4 August 2007

Canberra Worst in Aust for Cabs, or is it?

| Kramer
Join the conversation
12

Perth Now is proudly trumpeting that Perth have passed the title of worst city for taxis in the country to Canberra. However it seems that the title is based on the number of residents for each taxi. So do we need to worry how many taxis we have, as long as the waiting time is low (which is not really delved into in the above report)? and the phone booking system is easy?

Join the conversation

12
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

I emailed and phoned CabXpress (on their enquiries line). No reply to either! Phoned them several times, too. So I’m a bit iffey about relying on them for our people. I guess we’ll give them a go.

Hir car always. Normally, they cost as much, or even less than a taxi. For example, $40 for a trip from the Airport to Conder vs $55 using a taxi. They were a life saver a year ago. I one couldn’t get a taxi because “parliament is sitting”, so I got City Car Limos to take me back to school. The ultimate excuse for being 15 minutes ate to class, “there were no taxis so I hired a limo”!

As for taxi rank bookins. I have never understood why they won’t take “official” booking to taxi ranks. I still get them too though, not a bokking by name but normally I can ring up and say send a cab(s) to Manuka or talk get a cab driver to get some cabs over to the rank if there lots of people.

aerial sux – cabXpress rox… anyway, i’ve had three incidents with aerial – twice writing to them, once with a result from act regulators… [yes!!]

and cabXpress call me as they’re aproaching, approaching on time [do you hear that, aerial? on. time. !!!]

what makes perth cabs such crap?

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt11:40 am 06 Aug 07

Anecdotal evidence suggests the Canberra taxis really do suck.

Even with a serial killer in their midst, Perth’s taxi service appears to be better than our!

Ant, look in the yellow pages under Limousine &/or Car Hire Services – Chauffeur Driven (p. 847), you’ll find all options there. And yes, hire cars are very similar to taxis, but they do not work off ranks – you have to book them.

cabXpress seem to get favourable reviews so far. Myself I’ve still not had any major troubles with Aerial (could be due to not having any urgent/important taxi needs though).

How do you get onto the hire cars, are they like taxis and you can book them or ring and ask them to come get you?
I need to be able to rely on taxis a lot from now-on, and anecdotal info is that aerial are still all over the place. I am going to speak to the cabXpress people from queanbeyan to see if they are an option.

Hire cars would play a large part in that comparison, yes. There are 26 sedans, 2 hybrids and 5 Taragos operating in Canberra, plus 3 stretch limos equating to (very approximately) 1 vehicle per 10,000 head of population. One major difference between hire car and taxi numbers is regulation. Hire cars are deregulated and numbers are governed by market forces, taxis are regulated in their numbers by the ACT Govt.

Also they fail to mention that Canberra has probably the highest number of hire cars per capita.

I believe the ranking should be based on service received rather than numbers per capita, as every city has a unique layout geographically making things like travel time very different across the board. Possibly a rating linked to overall public transport would be more genuine, comparing taxis with buses, trains, etc availability and usage.

Ruby Wednesday8:30 am 05 Aug 07

I’ve had only one incident in Canberra where taxis have been a problem. Brisbane, however, is another story: bookings they no-show for (even after 2 hrs and multiple phonecalls, causing me to miss a job interview), 1 hr 40 min waits for a taxi if you need one around cob time (especially worse on a Friday) and ranks that might as well not exist for all the taxis that go to them. I’ll take Canberra taxis any day.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.