It’s raining regs in Oz
Ridesharing is good for riders, good for drivers and good for cities. That’s why many places around the world are adopting modern regulations that will allow ridesharing to grow while ensuring public safety and protecting consumers. Australia has been leading the way.
On October 30, the Australian Capital Territory became the first jurisdiction to legalize ridesharing in the country. And last week, the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA) followed suit.
In both NSW and WA, policymakers focused on simpler regulations that prioritize safety and quality of service for consumers.
Simplicity
Regulatory change in both states emphasized removing costly and unnecessary barriers to entry for point-to-point transportation providers. For example, the new measures in NSW removed more than 50 taxi and car-hire regulations — everything from rules around uniforms to requirements to buy certain types of expensive vehicles. This will save millions, lowering barriers for both taxi and ridesharing drivers.
“To prepare the point to point transport industry for the new customer focused reforms we have removed more than 50 regulations that were holding the industry back… We estimate this equates to a red tape saving of $30 million each year to industry.” —NSW Government
Safety
We’ve written before about how technology built into the Uber app enhances safety before, during and after a ride. While taxis hailed from the street are anonymous, trips booked by smartphone come with a record of the journey and so have different safety requirements.
NSW focused on a comprehensive pre-screening process for drivers with a new safety regulator tasked to “ensure the safe provision of services instead of handing out infringement notices to drivers for minor offences — most of which are not related to the safety of the services.”
“Drivers of point to point services, including taxis, will have to undergo medical checks, criminal background checks and meet high driver standards. Importantly, if they don’t meet the standards, they simply will not be able to drive a point to point vehicle.” —NSW Government
Service
It’s no secret that competition fosters innovation in all industries. Transport Minister Dean Nalder anticipates that the introduction of greater competition to the transport industry in Western Australia will lead to a better experience for customers.
“Under these new measures, taxi operators will be freed up to adapt to customer’s demand and take on competition. We believe WA’s on-demand or taxi industry will continue to grow, provided drivers and owners adopt innovation and technology to provide a better service and accept greater accountability.” —WA Transport Minister Dean Nalder
We’re excited that ridesharing is now regulated in so many places in Australia and around the world. Ridesharing brings important benefits to riders, drivers and the cities they live in: more transportation choice, more flexible work opportunities and, over time, less congestion and emissions. In the words of NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance:
“These reforms are expected to blow the doors of innovation wide open for ‘booked’ services, where customers can track their driver, provide direct feedback, hold them more accountable and choose from accessible price points.”
