On 31st August 2024, the Point to Point Transport Commissioner’s on-street team of Authorised Officers alongside City of Sydney Police Area Command and Transport for NSW, carried out a joint compliance operation at Lime St in Barangaroo. The joint operation focused on vehicle standards and driver compliance.
Throughout the operation a total of 45 vehicles (including rideshare and taxi vehicles) were inspected with most vehicles and drivers compliant under the law.
Vehicle Standards
The majority of inspected vehicles met required safety standards for point to point transport in NSW, however, the operation identified some vehicles operating with insufficient tyre tread, damaged seatbelt mount or window tinting beyond the legal allowance.
Vehicle defect notices and prohibition notices were issued where vehicles did not comply with relevant vehicle standards.
Taxis and hire vehicles (including rideshare) must be properly maintained.
Service providers must have systems in place to check that vehicles conducting passenger services under their authorisation are complying with vehicle maintenance safety standards.
More details on vehicle maintenance and who is responsible for this safety standard can be found here.
Driver compliance
The joint compliance operation identified some instances where drivers were not displaying the necessary identification. Penalty notices were issued to taxi drivers who were not displaying their driver identification, and to rideshare drivers who failed to display a retroreflective sign on the vehicle that identifies it as a hire vehicle, as the point to point transport safety standards require.
The display of taxi driver’s identification and retroreflective hire vehicle signs are both important safety measures associated with those services.
5 rideshare drivers were identified for not displaying a retroreflective sign on their vehicle and 2 taxi drivers were identified for not displaying their Driver ID.
1 taxi driver providing a passenger service was also identified not using the fare calculation device(meter) and faces a $1000 fine.
2 Improvement Notices were also identified on the day with respect to, taxis that were found not to have been fitted with a compliant security camera system and 1 vehicle not displaying the required signage on the taxi.
In NSW, taxis that provide rank and hail services must be fitted with an approved security camera system in working order and must comply with the specified set of security camera specifications. For more details on these specifications, please visit the Security Camera Systems Fact Sheet on our website.
The Point to Point Transport Commissioner’s joint operations with NSW Police and Transport for NSW are highly effective compliance activities in which the safety requirements under the point to point transport law are enforced, and one of the many ways we work together to achieve safer point to point passenger services in NSW.
