By Tony Wright
Less than two weeks ago, a group of young women found themselves confronted by predators after a Pearl Jam concert in Melbourne.
They were not the sort of predators the word might immediately bring to mind.
They were taxi drivers.
Some taxi drivers are demanding greatly inflated prices for short trips.Credit: Paul Rovere
They were, however, set upon preying on the women who approached them at a taxi rank just down the steps from Marvel Stadium, where the concert had been held.
It was getting on for midnight. Concert-goers had dropped into a bar nearby to enjoy a drink after the show.
They were buzzing from seeing Pearl Jam on their first concert tour to Australia in 10 years, and they were ready to head home.
And there sat a line of cabs, waiting.
One of the young women hopped into the first taxi in the queue and gave her address. It wasn’t a long ride – around seven kilometres. She knew it would cost about $23 because she’d consulted the taxi company’s app on her phone.
“Fifty dollars,” snapped the driver.
The young woman protested, showing her phone.
“Get out of my cab!” snarled the driver, and physically swatted her phone away.
Stunned, she approached the taxi that was second in line.
“You pay $60 right now,” demanded the driver. And when the young woman tried to disagree, he followed with “Get the f--- out”.
A third driver demanded $70.
Predatory pricing has been outlawed.Credit: Angela Wylie
They were colluding. Obviously.
The same extortionate behaviour was repeated as other women – some teenagers, some middle-aged – tried to negotiate.
The happy night turned sour. Some of the distressed concert-goers tried to explain they didn’t have the sort of money that was being demanded.
Nearby security men shrugged when asked for help. “They’re not our taxis,” one said.
The first young woman – experienced in social outings – began organising, suggesting that those who were going in similar directions band together to share cabs.
She had no one heading in her direction, however.
It was Monday night. The last tram had gone. Even if a tram had been running, there was a 900-metre walk from the stop to her home in the dark at the end.
She had discontinued her Uber account because normally she didn’t need it, and anyway, would an Uber even turn up on a night when thousands of concert-goers were calling?
More to the point: what if there were predators of the other kind out and about?
Australians are horrified at the tide of violence and murder descending on women right across this nation and bewildered about what can be done to stem it.
Did any of those drivers at that taxi rank think for a second what might happen to a woman who found herself stranded in the city with no way home that night?
Or any other night.
Just about anyone who has tried to hail a cab after an evening out in Melbourne appears to have a similar story. Phoning various government agencies this week to try to track down who could explain the legal situation, the first woman I spoke to said, “Oh yes, that happened to me last week.”
The young woman of our post-concert story eventually swallowed her fury and negotiated to pay $55. For a seven-kilometre journey.
She could not call her father to pick her up – because I was in Canberra.
All those drivers on that street that night were crooks, I told my daughter, when, seething, she relayed what had happened.
To be clear, not all taxi drivers act like this.
I have been driven by plenty of honest taxi operators, many of whom have illuminated my knowledge of Melbourne through enjoyable conversations.
But unscrupulous characters are out there, even though their chiselling behaviour has been illegal for more than a year.
On September 28, 2023, the Victorian government finally closed the preposterous loophole that had allowed taxi drivers to demand any fare they plucked out of the air if hailed on the street or at ranks.
It had been Rafferty’s rules since 2017, when the Andrews government deregulated the taxi industry to help it compete against ride-sharing outfits like Uber.
Old story: if you hear the words “deregulation” and “government” in one sentence, run for the hills.
The state government took a while to wake up to its blunder.
At last year’s Australian Open, tennis fans – many of them visitors to Melbourne – found themselves in endless queues for taxis as those ahead of them haggled with drivers demanding – legally – inflated no-meter flat fees, and refusing to take any passengers who did not capitulate.
The cries of outrage could no longer be ignored: the Australian Open’s national and international reputation was at stake.
The Age thundered in an editorial headlined: “Taxi debacle a long time in the making but needs swift solution.”
The “solution” came in a regulation change on September 28, 2023, just in time for the AFL grand final.
The new rule requires taxi drivers in Melbourne, Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong who have been hailed on the street or approached at a taxi rank to turn on their meter and charge no more than the maximum registered at the end of the ride. In other words, predatory price gouging was outlawed.
Ben Carroll, at the time Victoria’s public transport minister, declared (optimistically) that “these changes will improve taxi services for Victorians – giving passengers certainty they can get home safely, especially during busy major events. We’re making sure the rules are clear and that people travelling by rank and hailing taxis will get to where they need to go without frustrating price hikes.”
Fourteen months later, tell that to the women whose night out at a concert turned threatening.
Anyone scammed by taxi drivers can report it to Safe Transport Victoria.
The fine for failing to use a meter is $1975.90.
At time of publication, Safe Transport Victoria could not say how many, if any, drivers had been fined.
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