The new Labor government in the Northern Territory has decided to make ridesharing legal. A committee of Uber, Taxi Council and others, has been investigating the best way to put ridesharing reform in place.
The committee recently made some recommendations about safety, service standards, a “level playing field” and regulations for ridesharing. They also recommend two options for meeting the annual cost of $4 million to regulate this new service:
- Maintain a taxi cap, reduce licence fees by nearly 90% and ask passengers to pay $1 levy on all taxi and Uber rides
- Remove taxi cap, charge a flat licence fee of $100 and ask passengers to pay $1.30 levy on all taxi and Uber rides.
As expected, neither Uber nor the taxi industry support the levy but they did agree on most of the recommendations.
New ridesharing regulation
The new government is in favour of the “sharing economy”, believing people who own property have a right to share it. It thinks any new service must provide good wages and working conditions, as well as protect public safety.
New ridesharing legislation based on these recommendations will be introduced this year.
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