Taxis are back: It’s as plain as Black & White

A 102-year-old Brisbane taxi firm is successfully fighting off the challenge of Uber that led to the tanking of licence values from $500,000 to $50,000, with some owner-drivers now earning up to $20,000 a month amid rising demand.

Black & White Cabs celebrating 100 years in 2019 with a gold taxi

Greg Webb says news of the death of the taxi business has been greatly exaggerated.

The boss of Brisbane-based Black & White Cabs says that after a couple of tough years, the business is growing, fuelled by new booking technology and government contracts.

Webb says the 102-year-old firm that has survived wars, depression and more recently the onslaught of Uber is only challenged these days by a lack of drivers and cars.

Black & White will need an extra 200 cars over the next 12 months and hundreds of new drivers to meet growing demand.

“The challenge is finding them,” says Webb. The 65-year-old admits it has not been easy for the traditional cab industry with rideshare apps such as Uber taking 30 per cent of the taxi business over the last five years followed by the Covid-19 shutdowns.

Black & White Cabs to continue trade after parent company collapse

Uber and DiDi introduce new petrol surcharge as oil prices skyrocket

P2P Transport buys Brisbane’s Black and White Cabs

Taxi licence values have plunged from half a million dollars to $50,000 due to the impact of rideshare apps. Webb was about to exit the business in 2018 after selling the firm to Sydney-based P2P Transport. But P2P soon fell on hard times and collapsed owing millions to creditors, including $8m to Webb himself.

“I was left holding the baby to a certain extent,” says Webb, who bought the business back with the backing of key investors including Halcyon founders Dr Bevan Geissmann and Paul Melville in 2020. “We came out of it beautifully.”

The Ascot Taxi building at 73 Barry Parade, Fortitude Valley,

Webb says he remains passionate about Black & White Cabs, which can trace its lineage back to the Ascot Taxi Service started in 1919.

Webb bought Ascot Taxi and several other driver owned cooperatives in 1996, going on to build Black & White into a nationally-based fleet of 2000 cabs.

“It’s a 24/7 business with lots of stakeholders,” he says. “To let a cab company like this fail I would be letting down a lot of people including 125 staff.”

Webb says Uber took a big chunk out of what he calls the “punter trade” – people going to dinner, the pub or the club. But the company is fighting back with improved booking technology including apps, payment systems and customer driven data.

“We are using some of the lessons learnt from Uber,” says Webb. “The young people went across to Uber in a flash but the shine is now coming off mainly due to surge charging and slipping standards.”

Webb says that income for some owner drivers at Black & White is now back to pre-Uber levels, helped by people coming back to the business from rideshare and also growth in work for government departments and the NDIS.

Greg Webb in 2000

“During Covid-19, we did a lot of work for the health department and other government bodies,” he says, “It really helped us cushion the impact of the pandemic.”

Webb says that in a “back to the future” moment the number of owner drivers in the industry is increasing because they could see they could make a good income. Costs have been cut across the business helped by the government reducing insurance and licensing fees. “Owner drivers could these days make between $15,000 and $20,000 a month,” he says.

Stefan Fighting Back

Queensland businesses are bouncing back from the devastating floods with hairdressing group Stefan leading the charge.

Stefan general manager Rose King says the company’s Toombul store was a write-off following the deluge, with all fittingsand stock having to be thrown out.

“We have redirected our beautiful staff to Chermside, Aspley and Brookside (Stefan outlets). We’re lucky to have so many others,’’ King says.

“We also had our own insurance, but are in talks with our brokers.’’ King says Stefan’s South Brisbane headquarters had sufferedfar worse damage.

The headquarters, which employs 20 office staff, its academy, warehouse and Bach Living homewares store were all wiped out, costing “well into the millions’’ in damage. “We filled eight big industrial skips,’’ she says.

A crusher arrived on the weekend and half a dozen more skips were filled.

“I wanted to donate the furniture to Lismore (flood victims) but you just can’t. You don’t know what’s got on it,’’ she says.

“We have 35 to 40 apprentices and five teachers at the academy who thankfully can stay at South Bank TAFE for a month, butwe will need to find somewhere else for them to go. But we feel lucky, there are so many worse off than us.’’

Flood waters at Stefan HQ

Clubs Raise the Flag

Brisbane’s community clubs have flexed their muscle in the prestigious Keno & Clubs Queensland Awards for Excellence, collectingfive major accolades at a gala dinner this week.

In an evening of celebration at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday night, 1100 guests honoured the state’sbest performing clubs in the awards’ 23rd year.

Among the winners were Kedron-Wavell (best licensed RSL or services club), The Lion Richlands (best football club and clubof the year enterprise category), Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (best sports club of the year – non-gaming), Broncos Club (best dining 51-100 seat capacity) and Blue Fin Fishing Club (club of the year intermediate category).

Clubs Queensland chief executive Kelly Egan says Brisbane’s community clubs had stood tall when they were needed more thanever, commending their resilience in the face of ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Despite the constantly evolving landscape, our clubs have continued to provide invaluable service and social support for members and local communities,” Egan says. “It has been particularly special this year to be able to again gather face-to-facefor the awards night, which was a richly-deserved acknowledgment of the great work of clubs statewide.” Egan says communityclubs have a proud history of fostering local spirit and delivering top-shelf facilities. “Brisbane has again been prominentfor the exemplary way its clubs have maintained their connection to community,” he says.

Kelly Egan