A parliamentary inquiry into the sector that started in March and published its final report on Tuesday heard from many organisations that blamed the spike in the number of ride-share services for an increase in congestion in central Melbourne, but these anecdotal claims could not be corroborated with data. The committee is now recommending the state government require booking service providers to disclose their trip data and provide live data on the number of vehicles logged into the systems, claiming this information would help the Department of Transport better understand congestion problems. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video In its submission to the inquiry, the Commercial Passenger Vehicle Association of Australia said although the deregulation of the taxi industry resulted in reduced wait times for consumers, it also led to an “uncontrolled influx” of ride-share cars, which it claims have been “contributing heavily to congestion in our cities”. “This has led to implications surrounding parking availability, particularly in the CBD area where[commercial passenger vehicle] drivers are using any curb-side space as a rank to wait for their next job,” the CPVAA said in its statement.

Loading “For all the increased numbers of taxis operating in the industry, there has not been a single additional rank created for waiting vehicles. “Many of the ranks are full to overflowing and infringement officers aggressively issuing fines forcing drivers to keep moving and driving, contributing to the congestion on our roads.” In 2016 the Victorian government announced it would overhaul the taxi industry, in turn legalising ride-share services. As part of that reform the state offered to buy back licences at $100,000 for the first licence, and $50,000 for the second and third licences. Hundreds of taxi licence owners had rallied against that offer, slamming the government for paying out a small fraction of what their licences were once worth.

In response, the government set up a Fairness Fund, which the parliamentary committee found created “considerable tax burdens” for taxi licence owners, who were forced to stump up 25-45 per cent of their payments to the Australian Taxation Office. The committee recommended that future governments take into consideration the tax outcomes of similar hardship allowances. It also called for CCTV cameras to be installed in all ride-share vehicles, as was the case for taxis before the 2017 reforms; and for touting to be reintroduced as an offence. A spokesman for the government said it "had undertaken the most comprehensive reforms to the commercial passenger vehicle industry ever, which cut costs for operators, increased competition, improved services and drove down fares". "We will consider the Economy and Infrastructure Committee report into the Commercial Passenger Industry Act and will respond in due course."