Uber boss says ride-sharing service is ‘litmus test’ for government

THE boss of Uber Australia has taken aim at one of our state governments amid rising tensions with the local taxi industry.

Uber General manager David Rohrsheim looks on during an address to a CEDA luncheon in Brisbane, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015. The arrival of Uber in Australia has fuelled tensions with the taxi industry, with cabbies arguing Uber rides are unsafe and unregulated. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING

UBER’S Australian boss has criticised the Queensland government for spruiking safety as a top priority without bothering to check on his ride-share company’s safety procedures.

David Rohrsheim said yesterday the company had discovered through freedom of information requests that Queensland transport department staff had been “boasting” to the government about spending 6000 hours on “enforcement activities”, such as fining Uber drivers.

“But no one in that department has found one hour to come down to the Uber office and say ‘what are your safety procedures?’” Mr Rohrsheim said in Brisbane on Tuesday.

“If safety was their top priority, why hasn’t that meeting happened?”

Mr Rohrsheim was speaking at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia forum on the subject of “urban futures”.

His comments come amid rising tensions between Uber and the established taxi industry, with cabbies arguing Uber is unsafe and illegal.

Tensions escalated last week when two Uber drivers were allegedly attacked by taxi drivers in Brisbane.

Mr Rohrsheim rubbished the taxi industry’s claims about safety as “fear-driven arguments about new technology”, saying it was the same script used when motorised vehicles took over from horse-drawn carts.

Brisbane’s taxi drivers are growing increasingly frustrated by the ride-share app. Picture: Tara Croser

“The good news is, people aren’t buying it,” he said, adding that one million Australians used the app.

He said Uber represents a “litmus test” for any new government.

“We are new, we are difficult, we are work for a new government,” he said.

The ACT flagged its intention last week to regulate Uber by the end of the month.

But an independent review of Queensland’s taxi plan, which includes limousines and ride-sharing services, is not due until August next year.

“That has entrenched Queensland in last place,” Mr Rohrsheim said.

Police have charged the two men over the alleged attack of two Uber drivers in the Brisbane suburbs of Fortitude Valley and Kangaroo Point.

The Brisbane Magistrates Court heard last week the accused men, Sukhcharan Singh Bal, 26, and Jaskirat Singh, 29 — who are taxi drivers — helped assault two Uber drivers outside a Brisbane hotel. Bal allegedly used the app to summon a third victim.

Singh told one driver “F**k Uber” and “You’re taking away our business”, before punching him in the head and shoulder and repeatedly punching his windscreen, the police prosecutor said.

Taxi driver Sukhcharan Singh Bal, 26, leaving the arrest court in Brisbane on Friday. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled

Both men, who are originally from India, were granted bail on condition they surrendered their passports, stayed away from their alleged victims and not request or travel in an Uber car.

Meanwhile the nation’s competition watchdog is being accused of protecting Uber after it flagged it may stop the taxi industry from introducing a booking app of its own.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Watchdog drew the ire of taxi representatives when it said it planned to block the release of iHail, a one-stop booking service app for major taxi networks nationally.

In a draft decision, the watchdog said it has fears about iHail’s impact on competition and Cabcharge’s role in handling payments.

Australian Taxi Industry Association chief executive Blair Davies said the decision would hurt local taxi companies and commuters.

“The ACCC has sided on the side of Uber against Australian companies and that’s not its role,” he told AAP on Monday.

While ACCC chairman Rod Sims said iHail would be convenient, he said it would involve a larger fleet of taxis, in a broader range of locations, than any existing taxi booking app. Prices and quality of service would probably be affected as a result, he said.

“If you go to each city there are two main taxi networks which probably have over 80 per cent of the taxis. That’s who’s getting together and that’s one of our problems,” Mr Sims said.