Taxi shortage threatens tourism
Fri 06 November 2009
Lynette Piva-Brown, Bachelor of Journalism
The Sunshine Coast is booming but tourists and locals are frustrated because there are just not enough taxis to service the area.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) stated that at June 2008 the population on the Sunshine Coast was estimated to be 312000 people. The Sunshine Coast Regional Council website states there are three million visitors per year to the region, which is an average of over 8000 visitors each night. Tourists who do not drive to the area rely on taxis, and Suncoast Cabs is the local provider to the Sunshine Coast region. Based on these statistics, the number of taxis available to both locals and visitors would be one taxi for nearly 3000 people. This is subject to the entire fleet being operational on the Sunshine Coast.
Suncoast Cabs operate a fleet of 109 taxis. General manager John Lobwein said on Friday and Saturday nights they have all 109 taxis and up to seven substitute cars operating between Noosa, Caloundra and the Sunshine Coast hinterland. However, he said there would be enough work to keep 350 taxis busy during this period.
Tourist Kaylene Morris said her family of six spent a week in Mooloolaba during the September school holidays. Their enjoyable holiday almost ended in disaster when they nearly missed their flight back to Melbourne, due to taxi delays. Ms Morris said it was very distressing because they ordered a maxi taxi 24 hours earlier, to take them from Mooloolaba to the Sunshine Coast Airport. However, the taxi arrived 30 minutes late with the driver explaining he was on another job. Ms Morris said during that time they made frantic phone calls to the airline to explain their transport was running late, however they were told that if they didn’t arrive in time, the flight would be closed for boarding.
“It really put us in a negative frame of mind, after a wonderful holiday. I don’t know if we would put ourselves through that drama again. We might holiday on the Gold Coast next time where they seem to have more transport options,” she said.
This is not good news for an ailing tourism market in the current global financial crisis. Tourism Sunshine Coast (TSC) reported that “as the economy slows … occupancy rates are also sliding – both for Queensland and Sunshine Coast”.
Tourism Sunshine Coast is particularly concerned that the Sunshine Coast as a preferred destination has dropped within the Sydney market. The Gold Coast is now increasing as their preferred destination.
Mr Lobwien said people book their taxi with a view to getting to the airport 30 minutes before departure, when they should allow a minimum check-in of one hour in advance.
“This leaves zero room for error. Have we had anyone miss a flight? Yes. Does it happen on a regular occurrence? No,” he said.
In relation to the plight of the Ms Morris’s family, “at the end of the day, we’re talking about people that booked a maxi taxi, needed to catch their plane, and did,” he said.
Maroochydore airport manager Steve Smith said the Sunshine Coast could do with more cabs, but they don’t receive any complaints about transport services to and from the airport. He said they have an agreement in place with Suncoast Cabs, and that two coach operators meet every arriving and every departing flight from the Sunshine Coast.
“People don’t leave themselves enough time for check-in,” he said.
In July 2009 the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads developed a Taxi Industry Reform paper. Rather than focus on the lack of taxis, the emphasis was placed on taxi driver reforms such as training and service standards of the taxi industry. The report found, the community believed that taxi standards in Queensland were not adequate.
Mr Lobwein said that the taxi industry is the only public transport provider that receives no government subsidies. The vehicles are expensive to register and insure, and costly to maintain. Taxi operators don’t get paid unless they are picking people up so there is a fine line between too many taxis and not enough.
He said he would like to increase the fleet to 200 cars because the Sunshine Coast is such a large area. It extends from Noosa to Landsborough and includes the hinterland.
The Queensland Government, in conjunction with the Queensland Tourism Industry, developed a $48 million dollar tourism strategy. One potential threat to Queensland tourism identified was population and visitor growth putting pressure on public infrastructure. A vision of the tourism strategy was to take a whole-of government approach to transport planning. This approach included “actions to improve access to public transport for locals and visitors.”
Mr Lobwein believes the government should subsidise the cost of insurance and registration of taxis, and issue more licences to high growth areas such as the Sunshine Coast.
Image(s) designed by