Taxi licence values plummet up to 90 per cent amid Uber hit

Despite upbeat comments from industry leaders, taxi owners are still doing it tough, with the value of taxi licences plunging 90 per cent over the past four years.

Uber is continuing to hit the taxi sector across Australia.

THE taxi business is still a tough business despite some industry leaders saying the tide has turned in its favour.

City Beat spoke to Black & White Cabs chief executive Greg Webb who noted the industry was fighting back successfully from Covid-19 and the impact from Uber and other rideshare apps. Webb says owner drivers could earn up to $20,000 a month as the industry recovered. But one retired driver says good taxi drivers are lucky to make $10,000 amid a 90 per cent plummet in the value of taxi licences.

“Uber has taken up to 50 per cent of the passenger traffic and these numbers are still growing,” says the driver.

The driver says taxi licences were selling for pittances due to the impact of ride share but there was little government help forthcoming.

“Compensation up to $200.000 is being considered in NSW but the compensation in Queensland has been pathetic,” says the driver.

Uber is continuing to hit the taxi sector across Australia.

The long-running legal battle by 900 taxi licence owners against the state could fizzle out, with lawyers for the government understood to be moving to have the case wholly thrown out. The value of taxi licences, a once coveted asset, plummeted when ride-sharing services like Uber entered the market with the legalisation of those services in 2016 crushing the taxi industry even more. According to Transport Department data, standard taxi licences in Brisbane were selling for an average of more than half a million dollars in 2014, dropped to $103,828 in 2018 and as of 2021 have slipped even further. Data from November shows some licences in Brisbane were changing hands for as low as $10,000.

Taxi Council of Queensland chief executive Blair Davies says that while the industry continued to face challenges, it was emerging strongly from Covid-19 and competitive pressures from ride-sharing apps. Davies says the pandemic had reinforced the idea that local business needed to be supported and that “sharing was not alway a good idea.” He says drivers could make good living but the challenge for licence holders was finding enough drivers to keep their taxis on the road.

GIANT FAREWELLED

ONE of the giants of the Queensland resources sector has been farewelled.

A funeral for Michael Pinnock, who for 23 years was the face of mining, was held on Friday attended by some of the big wigs of the sector.

Queensland Resources Council (QRC) chief executive Ian Macfarlane says Pinnock (illustrated) was the equivalent of resources royalty, having led various peak mining bodies from 1980 to 2003.

“In a magnificent career with many achievements, arguably Michael’s most enduring legacy was the creation of a united, peak industry body, the Queensland Mining Council, which was a precursor to the QRC of today,” says Macfarlane.

In 1991, Pinnock oversaw the merger of the Queensland Chamber of Mines with the Queensland Coal Association to form a single body, the Queensland Mining Council.

Describing the merger of the two bodies in February 1991, Mr Pinnock said: “It is important to have the most credible and authoritative group possible representing the industry.”

Pinnock, who died aged 83, was the inaugural chief executive of that body, a role he served in for 12 years. His career highlights included being made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1999 and a QRC Life Member in 2003.

Michael Pinnock pictured in 1999.

PORT APPOINTMENT

VETERAN civil engineer Craig Haymes has taken up the role of chief executive of Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC). Haymes was most recently executive vice president of gas producer INPEX Australia where he led a $60m LNG project in the environmentally sensitive area of Darwin Harbour. He previously held roles with ExxonMobil.

GPC chair Dr Anthony Lynham says Haymes has more than 30 years’ experience in multinational corporations spanning Australia, Canada and the United States and his expertise would be needed as GPC expands its operations across its port in Gladstone, Rockhampton and Bundaberg. “Our ports are growing and diversifying at an extraordinary rate,” says Lynham. “Hydrogen will be a fundamental part of our port in the near future but we also know that coal and LNG exports will be here for decades to come.” Paul Heagney will continue as acting CEO until Haymes take up the role in May.