With Vivid Sydney lighting up Sydney CBD from Friday 24 May to Saturday 15 June, there was a higher demand for point to point transport with more people using taxis, rideshare and other hire vehicles. The Point to Point Transport Commissioner’s team of on-street Authorised Officers were out in force ensuring safety.
Throughout Vivid a total of 1416 rideshare and taxi vehicles were inspected.
More than 200 fines were issued over the month for a range of breaches, including rideshare vehicles not displaying retroreflective signs, rideshare drivers stopping in a taxi zone and taxi drivers not displaying their Driver ID documents.
The on-street operations, also focused on fare-related offences in taxis providing rank and hail services with a total of 938 plain clothes journeys undertaken in taxis (which were focussed on known hot spots including those reported to the Hotline), and more than 100 fines issued by Authorised Officers.
Drivers caught overcharging, not using the meter or refusing a fare if the trip is considered too short or the passenger won’t pay a fixed fare face a fine of $1000.
The Commissioner’s priority is safety, and his Authorised Officers will continue to be out and about enforcing the law on the minority of drivers who choose to try and flout the rules.