By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
WHAT’S your record wait for a taxi? For Dandenong disability advocate Sharon Harris, who rides a wheelchair, her record is five hours – at a CBD hospital waiting for a commute home.
She’s also had a marathon three-hour wait at Noble Park post office after booking a cab in advance on the phone.
During that stint, Ms Harris rang the cab hotline several times and saw several taxis drive by. She watched a wheelchair-taxi driver park on the other side of the street, grab some food and drive off.
Watch Sharon’s story on video below.
“We rely on these people and sitting in the cold – especially in winter – is not good for us,” Ms Harris said.
A recent draft report by Taxi Industry Inquiry head Professor Allan Fels stated that people requiring wheelchair-accessible taxis had waiting times exceeding three hours, that drivers were discourteous and took circuitous routes when a passenger couldn’t object.
“People with a disability experience poor and unreliable taxi services more frequently and with more serious consequences than other taxi users,” it stated.
One recommendation is to introduce a central booking register for wheelchair-accessible taxis in Melbourne in an attempt to stop the eternal waits.
Disability Resources Centre chairman Frank Hall-Bentick said this would involve taking the wheelchair taxi licences off Dandenong Taxis and other cab services.
He said the loss of licences would cost cab companies, but they had “shot themselves in the foot” by not doing the right thing.
Dandenong Taxis manager Paul Smith said he believed a central register was unnecessary for outer metropolitan areas, where quality of service was higher than the CBD.
“We instruct our drivers to give a priority to wheelchair work. They understand the importance of it.”
He said there could be lengthy waits if wheelchair-accessible taxis weren’t pre-booked. “Customers have to understand there are only 19 wheelchair taxis in our fleet. They can’t call up in peak times in the morning and afternoon and expect to be picked up straight away. A lot of the time they are already booked out.”
Customer Shaunagh Stevens says she rings her own ‘personal’ cabbie’s mobile to ensure she gets prompt service.
“There are some great drivers out there. If you’re lucky enough to have their personal mobile number, you can get really great service.”
She had been nervous of being stood up by drivers when booking by conventional means. She was once stranded for up to 3.5 hours at Fountain Gate shopping centre when the driver didn’t return to pick her up.
