By Mikayla van Loon
Travelling from one side of the Yarra Ranges to the other, or even short distances within, can require hours or extensive costs if one does not have the luxury of driving.
This is particularly prevalent for the elderly, people with a disability, people with a medical condition and young people.
Witnessing this very scenario for her elderly mother, Lilydale’s Lauren Brum sought to change this by starting her own private taxi service.
“My 83-year-old mum is legally blind and has mobility issues and obviously over time, that compound gets more difficult, and we were noticing a big issue with trying to get transport out for mum, particularly when the drives she was needing were short, to the doctors, to the supermarket, that sort of thing,” she said.
“She can’t take public transport due to her vision, and she has a couple of activities that she goes to each week, like her senior group, and it was just getting harder and harder to get her transportation.”
Having been able to use the former Yarra Ranges Council operated transport service, prior to changes in the government structure of these services, Ms Brum said at the end of that, her mum was not registered under an aged care package and could not easily gain access to the transport solutions put in place.
Eastern Volunteers and HICCI took over the service for My Aged Care Package recipients, something Ms Brum complimented them on saying “they are amazing, they are fabulous” but demand was greater than what they could offer.
HICCI chief executive officer Alison Gommers said while there isn’t a waiting list for their service, with 28 volunteers available, there are some restrictions.
“Some of the drivers choose to only drive locally, some like long distances to the Eye and Ear, Maroondah and Box Hill Hospital. Then it’s about their availability. Some may be only available on a Monday or a couple of days a week,” she said.
“The other thing is, in consideration, we have three vehicles and a bus, so quite a few of the volunteers choose to use a HICCI vehicle so they can only go out for one trip at a time which is a restriction for us.
“Ideally we like four working days’ notice, so they need to contact the office, and then we can locate a volunteer that could take them and get that organised.”
Providing both an over 65 transport service which requires a referral from a My Aged Care Package, and an under 65 service for people in particular circumstances, Ms Gommers said more drivers would always be welcome to support vulnerable people in the region.
Establishing officially as a registered taxi service in December, prior to that Ms Brum had driven for Uber where her decision to provide a taxi service was cemented.
“I had been talking about starting a transport business targeted mostly to our seniors, to replace what was available from the council previously and while I was in the process of deciding to start that up, I drove for Uber,” she said.
“And while I was driving Uber, I was getting more and more jobs out in our community where passengers were telling me across the Yarra Ranges that I would have been the tenth driver who got allocated the job because previous drivers would keep cancelling.
“The Yarra Ranges were too far out. They don’t want those jobs. It’s not worth their while. I’ve had a customer in Launching Place who needed to get to work. If she missed the bus, she couldn’t get there.”
Despite noticing the exorbitant costs of short trips in an Uber, Ms Brum said “I was having to work 11 and a half hour days just to make minimum wage”.
Initially setting up as a rideshare operator in August last year, Ms Brum said unfortunately that meant she could not accept the 50 per cent discount offered through the State Government’s Multi Purpose Taxi Program (MPTP) card and excluded her target clientele of seniors and people with a disability.
She made the transition to a taxi service but again stumbled on further issues plaguing the system.
“One of the big challenges being that there is Cabcharge that people get through their home care package but 13Cabs who also own Silver Service, own Cabcharge and unless you’re with 13Cabs it’s extremely difficult to become a Cabcharge merchant,” Ms Brum said.
An investigation by 60 Minutes and The Age, aired on Sunday 16 February, into Cabcharge found severe exploitation of passengers, particularly those presenting with a vulnerability.
The Age’s reporting also highlighted the case of convicted taxi driver Jarnail Singh who scammed and abused passengers with a disability, overcharging them and in some instances assaulting them.
When asked on Monday 17 February about the mastheads’ reporting, Premier Jacinta Allan said she was disgusted.
“Can I make it absolutely clear – and I served as public transport minister some time ago – the behaviour as has been reported over the weekend is just absolutely vile. It is disgusting,” the Premier told The Age.
“The way some in the industry have preyed on the most vulnerable in our community makes me absolutely sick, particularly because, for some people with a disability, the only way they can get around our community – maybe to go to work, to the important day programs they participate in, to see family and loved ones, to make medical appointments – the only way they can get around in our community is in a taxi or in a rideshare vehicle.
“That is something that should never be taken away from them, that should never be abused. That is why this behaviour absolutely disgusts me.”
She also announced a review into the accreditations for taxi drivers and of Cabcharge.
“The Department of Transport and Planning is undertaking a review looking at how we can strengthen the procurement practices, strengthen the accreditation practices, and also using technology as well,” she said.
While on a lesser scale, Ms Brum said the exploitation of passengers has been something she’s heard often.
This includes a quote of $50 dollars for a taxi to transport a teenager 3.8kms from her home in Silvan to her school bus stop because she would have to walk on a dangerous road without footpaths and a senior left stranded by a taxi service for 45 minutes in 40 degree heat despite the taxi being booked four hours earlier.
“One of my first clients as a rideshare driver, she lived in Warburton and was newly diagnosed with stage four cancer. She needed to go to Box Hill weekly to get treatments and a one-way taxi was $150.
“There is no alternative. You could do four hours on buses, trains and the rest to try to get to appointments. Uber doesn’t exist in Warburton. Another stumbling block is that older people don’t use Uber apps.”
Cases of people being kept in the car for longer than necessary to drive up the fare, the meter being started before the taxi arrives and young women being propositioned by drivers or taken into remote areas are all stories Ms Brum has heard.
Ms Brum is now calling on the State Government, having written to ministers, to regulate the now unregulated taxi industry and improve transport options in the Yarra Ranges.
Her letter requests that the government “investigate the lack of services available throughout the Yarra Ranges region, review and revise taxi legislation to ensure fairness for all services, and increase public transport options for our community”.
Despite many companies operating private transport services, Ms Brum said they very much cater to tourism, like winery tours and airport transfers, but people needing to get to medical appointments or social outings are being left behind and “no one’s feeling safe anymore, at least not financially safe, if not physically safe as well”.
“We have a massive issue across the Ranges from a public transport and from a private transport perspective, we’re too far out. It is ridiculous, we’re classed metro and yet metropolitan really ends at Lilydale and Belgrave, where the trainline ends.
“Beyond that, the services are appalling. If you don’t have family who can help you, you are pretty much left on your own.
“There’s got to be a better option for the area. Ideally, I’d love to be put out of work. I’d love our transport system to be so fantastic that nobody actually needs me but that’s a pie in the sky kind of thing.”
The Department of Transport and Planning was contacted for comment.
