news, local-news, taxi, overcharging, Spilt Milk, mustic festival, ride sharing

Passengers complaining of being charged three times the standard fares after leaving Canberra's Spilt Milk concert on Saturday are being urged to contact the taxi company and Access Canberra. Reports have emerged from after the music festival of interstate passengers being charged $95 for a taxi trip from Civic to Holt which would usually cost around a third of that sum, and being told by the driver to pay "up front" or risk being refused travel. The visitors accepted the conditions and paid the money for fear of losing their place in the lengthy queue at the city rank. They noted that the taxi meter was not turned on for the journey, which is an offence under the Road Transport Act if the taxi is operating in that role and not in a ride sharing capacity. Some of Canberra's taxi drivers operate as rideshare operators to supplement their income however some ride share operators, such as Uber, expressly forbid the use of large commercial graphics or branding on their vehicles. Convention taxi signage would breach the minimum Uber requirements. UberX rideshare operators are not permitted to be taxis. Meanwhile, rival rideshare operator Ola states unequivocally on its website: "currently, we are only accepting private hire vehicles on our platform". Access Canberra says that "delegated staff have the power to issue infringements for breaches of public transport law in addition to any other penalties which the transport booking service may impose as part of their disciplinary policies". Under the Road Transport Act, a taxi driver "may ask the person to give the driver a fare deposit if the driver believes on reasonable grounds that the person may not be able to, or will not, pay the estimated fare for the hiring". Police reported they were generally pleased with crowd behaviour at the music festival. A small number of people were taken into protective custody due to intoxication and five people were "dealt with" for drug possession. No major incidents were reported.

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