On 13/05/14 00:39, Stephen Loosley wrote: > Victoria government issues $1700 fines to Uber ride-sharing drivers > as media gaffe surfaces May 8, 2014 by Ben Grubb > http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/smartphone-apps/uber-ridesharing-service-under-investigation-as-public-warned-off-app-20140425-zqzed.html
A taxi driver license for country NSW requires no driver training or testing, just an ordinary diver's licence and a medical form: http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/content/applying-taxi-driver-authority Licences are renewed only every three years, so a sub-standard taxi driver could be on the road for years. In contrast, if drivers are rated on-line by each passenger after every trip with Uber (and similar schemes), the bad ones would be quickly out of business. Presumably taxis are licensed to ensure public safety and to see a good quality service is provided. In that case, those providing an in-kind service should be similarly licensed. But the Australian Governments encourage unregulated, unlicensed carpooling: http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/usingroads/traveldemandmanagement/carpooling.html If receiving money for giving someone a lift is illegal, then car pooling should also be illegal: the payment is in-kind, receiving a lift in return for giving others a lift. Uber, and similar schemes, would appear to promote public safety and quality of service, better than a carpool, as they provide a form of registration of the drivers and a quality control system. -- Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150 The Higher Education Whisperer http://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/ PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia http://www.tomw.net.au Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science, Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/ _______________________________________________ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
