A protest against ride sharing company Uber by taxi drivers in Perth has backfired, according to the company's West Australian head.

More than 200 taxi drivers staged a protest outside Parliament House yesterday to call for action against Uber, which the taxi industry claims is breaching the law.

In WA, any vehicle carrying passengers for a fee must be licensed as a taxi or an omnibus.

However, Uber capitalised on the taxi driver strike by offering new customers a free ride.

Uber spokesman Simon Rossi told ABC local radio the protest did little but help his company gain new customers.

"What we saw yesterday was a 500 per cent increase in riders coming to our platform," he said.

"The Premier also, if I can summarise, said something like you know the world is changing, people want choice and as long as that choice is safe, reliable and accountable they want to support that."

"We urge our counterparts in the taxi industry to rise to the occasion, instead of attempting to stifle healthy competition and consumer choice.

"Last year, the governing Liberal Party in Western Australia voted at their state conference to remove the regulatory barriers that prevented services like Uber from operating.

"Those sentiments were echoed in the past few weeks by the Federal Labor party, Choice, Treasurer Joe Hockey, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, and the Harper Competition Policy Review, who all called for the needs of consumers to be put first."

Mr Rossi said there were 100,000 passengers in Perth signed up to Uber and more than 1,000 partner drivers in the service.

More than 200 taxi drivers protested against Uber outside Parliament on Tuesday. ( ABC News: Andrew O'Connor )

Yesterday, Transport Minister Dean Nalder said there needed to be a more even playing field within the taxi industry and he had concerns about the fees taxi companies charge their drivers.

"I believe that whole thing needs to be looked at and to ensure that there is greater competition within the taxi industry, so my objective would be to allow dispatch services and I view Uber as just a dispatch service," he said.

Mr Nalder said the State Government had filed its first prosecution "to do with UberX and ride-sharing without having a licence" and "there are many more to come in coming weeks".

RAC spokeswoman Anne Still said the taxi industry was a critical part of the transport system in WA.

"There needs to be a strong look at the industry as it stands at the moment," she said.

"Last year about 13.4 million trips were delivered by the taxi industry in WA, that has dropped to 12.9 million trips and it is still dropping."

Ms Still said the RAC commissioned an independent review into the industry last year, which recommended more focus on the regulations.

"Those regulations are restricting competition and innovation. It's not about opening up the industry," she said.

"It is really about allowing the industry and freeing it up so it can move forward to deliver better service to people.

"And ensure all the participants who involved in industry can remain so, but more importantly, ensure the industry as a whole is sustainable into the future."