This was published 8 years ago
Uber Queensland drivers fined $1.7 million in three months
By Jorge Branco
Uber continues to be a cash cow for the state government even as the future of the unregulated ride-sharing industry remains up in the air.
The service's drivers were fined almost as much in the past three months as they were in the entire first year the service was operating.
As of Sunday, transport officers had slapped $1,717,184 million worth of fines on the service's drivers since law changes in late April kick-started a crackdown.
At $2,356 a pop since the Katter's Australian Party-driven increase, that makes the figure only a handful of infringements short of the $1,732,262 million dished out in the year to June 2015.
Uber drivers have been fined $1.7 million since April 27.
Transport officers handed out another $191,431 in fines over the next six months but were "unable to undertake covert enforcement activities" since August 2015, leaving the taxi industry clamouring for a harsher approach when the new laws gave them more powers.
They complained the company was blocking the phones of known inspectors from using the app.
The Translink inspectors had fined 723 drivers for providing a "taxi service using a motor vehicle that is not a taxi" since April 27, with 89 fined more than once.
As of July 18, 303 of those fines had been paid, a spokesman confirmed.
The Opportunities for Personalised Transport taskforce, headed by experienced public servant Jim Varghese, is due to report to the government by the end of the month on how to regulate the industry.
A green paper released in May laid out four options for reform, ranging from maintaining the status quo through to full deregulation, although Mr Varghese later described the choices as more of a "continuum".
Bringing down the cost of compliance is one of the goals, with the taskforce estimating the cost of enforcement was $1.5 million in 2015.
The discussion paper also considered restricting the street hailing and cab ranks to taxis and possibly banning ride-sharing services from operating outside of south-east Queensland.
Conflict between Uber and the taxi industry has been fierce since the app-based provider entered the market in 2014.
Taxi licence values have halved since the service launched, leaving taxi owners worried about their future and accusing Uber of riding roughshod over Queensland laws to achieve an unfair advantage.
But Uber argues no driver should be penalised for providing "safe and reliable rides in their own city".