Shoud Uber get a government subsidy for wheelchair access?

UBER has taken the opportunity to make the case for a government subsidy during hearings at a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into ride-sharing.

UBER should be given government subsidies to make it more accessible to people with disabilities, a Victorian inquiry has been told.

Uber’s Victorian general manager Matthew Denman and disability awareness business Centre for Access director Thomas Banks gave evidence to the Inquiry to Ride Sourcing Services on Thursday.

Mr Banks, who has mild cerebral palsy, said his “world changed forever” when he started using Uber.

Taxi drivers would keep him waiting for hours, would drive off without him thinking he was drunk, or refuse to drive him short distances, and his experience with Uber was the opposite, he told the inquiry.

However, he did not know of anyone with a wheelchair who had been able to use Uber and suggested extending a subsidy that halves taxis fares to ride sharing services to make them more accessible.

“Uber should have government subsidies because people with disabilities deserve a choice,” Mr Banks said.

People with severe and permanent disabilities can get subsidised taxi fares through Victoria’s Multi Purpose Taxi Program.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Denman was unable to say how many of the 14,000 Uber vehicles in Victoria had wheelchair access.

Uber had looked in to what it would take to create a wheelchair accessible vehicle service, but “even if we had a fantastic wheelchair accessible product, the (MPTP) subsidy couldn’t flow to it,” he told the inquiry.

Mr Denman said Uber wanted to work with the government to make the service more accessible.

Late last month, the Victorian government announced plans to legalise Uber but also compensate existing taxi drivers.

The government is planning to scrap taxi licences to create a single registration system for cabs, hire cars and ride-sharing services.

A $2 levy to each trip will partially fund an overall transition package worth $450 million, while the government plans to buy back licences for a maximum of $150,000.

On Wednesday, The Victorian Taxi and Hire Car Families group and Victorian Taxi Association gave evidence at the inquiry.

The two industry groups and are against the proposed $2 fee and VTA said compensation for a metropolitan licence should be $250,000, the inquiry heard.

Uber says the government needs to release the analysis and economic modelling to justify the levy and any compensation.

Originally published as Shoud Uber get a government subsidy for wheelchair access?