Changes to the regulation of Western Australia's taxi industry could be implemented by the end of the year, Premier Colin Barnett says.

The comments came as Transport Minister Dean Nalder departed for an overseas trip, which will include a visit to Singapore to investigate how the taxi industry there is regulated.

The Government is poised to release a green paper to "provoke discussion" on reforming the industry, but as revealed earlier this month, the Department of Transport has told stakeholders it could be another nine months until a final report goes to Cabinet and is released publicly.

Mr Barnett today acknowledged the timeframe was not ideal.

"I would hope it would be quicker but Dean Nalder is talking to the major players in the taxi industry, including in Singapore the owners of Swan Taxis," he said.

Asked about the time frame for the Government to make changes for deregulation of the industry, Mr Barnett responded: "I would hope we'd be able to make changes this year".

"So you're going to see change, whether it is initiated by Government or by the taxi companies themselves, and I think at the end of the day we'll have a better taxi service than we've had," he said.

Compensation for taxi plate holders again ruled out

The WA Government has long flagged reforms amid public dissatisfaction with aspects of the state's taxi service and the arrival of ridesharing companies such as Uber.

Mr Barnett previously said he thought taxi plates would need to be phased out over time but today he could not give a timeframe for when that would occur.

"We haven't made that decision but that's one of the barriers to the industry," he said.

"Now people have invested in taxi plates so we are not about to destroy their wealth but at the same time having high cost of entry is not sensible for the industry into the long term.

"You should be able to get a car, have a trained confident driver and run a taxi service ... so change is in the wind."

But Mr Barnett again ruled out compensation for taxi plate holders if the industry was deregulated.

"I don't think it's up to the taxpayer to compensate people," he said.

"I think if taxi plates go that would be phased out over time, that's a reasonable change, but the taxpayer shouldn't have to pay for that."

The Taxi Industry Forum previously raised concerns about the length of time for the green paper to be finalised, saying the Government should act more swiftly because the heavily regulated industry was struggling in the face of increasing competition from Uber.