29 June 2007

Guess Who's Profiting from the Poor Taxi Service

| Deano
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In a letter sent to all Brindabella Business Park tenants this week, Stephen Byron of the Canberra Airport said;

… we have also commenced work on the construction of an additional 350 car parking spaces in our short and long stay terminal car parks to alleviate a level of congestion arising out of a 25% surge in growth last year when Canberra Cabs moved to an automated booking system. Once those spaces are complete, we will immediately commence building a 600 space structured car park to cater for further growth.

At $15 per day, the additional 350 spaces alone represent a nice $1.9 million per year in additional income from parking fees.

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DarkLadyWolfMother5:29 am 02 Jul 07

Well that answers one question I had: whether they’d fixed/removed the voice system. Guess not. I just haven’t seen a lot of bleating about it lately.

I hear the people at work snarling about the voice recognition system/debacle, so I know it’s still operating. They swap stories about how crappy it is.

Yep I agree when im in Canberra and I need to call a cab its cabxpress. I still get any cab that I see on the street though I just never call canberra cabs any more.

Good stuff – I had been meaning to try cabexpress, but got out of the taxi habit during the voice-recognition debacle.
I hope cabexpress are doing well.
And I hope whoever kept sticking to the voice recognition to save a few bucks is regretting it now.
what a stuff up!

CraigFromCurtin8:34 pm 30 Jun 07

Don’t use Canberra Cabs/Aerial/Silver Service/Elite taxis (they are all the same company by the way). When the ACT government had been complaining about the lack of competition, they set up these extra “front” companies, but don’t be fooled – they’re all Canberra Cabs. When they introduced their voice mangling (oops, I mean recognition) system, and it consistently stuffed up my bookings, I stopped using them. This monumental cockup on the part of Canberra Cabs was the impetus for a new mob to start up – “Cabxpress”. Go Cab Express!!!! I use them *exclusively* now. When arriving at CBR airport on a flight and needing a taxi, I’ll even let every Canberra Cabs/Aerial/Silver Service/Elite taxi go by, waving the people behind me in the queue past me. When a Cabxpress taxi gets to the front of the queue, I take it.

Screw Aerial I say. They have shown such damn contempt for their customers, by consistently and persistently refusing to acknowledge that anything was wrong with their voice system, when people were screaming about it (one just had to listen to 666 to hear them).

Just call 6260 6011 and you’ll talk to a real person. And chances are that the driver him/herself will ring you and let you know how far away he/she is! Neat! http://www.cabxpress.com.au

[And no, I have no connection whatsoever with Cabxpress]

Why should our taxes be diverted to prop up Snow’s money-making activities?
The ACT gov’t isn’t responsible for the airport mess. The airport precinct is controlled by the federal gov’t planning people, and they didn’t give Snow any trouble at all. Snow is holding the local government to ransom by his crash-through tactics. Also, notice how he’s built things right up against the fences? The new building on Majura Road, the depots and things at the corner of Fairbairn and Pialligo Aves, and the Brindabella Park stuff? That’s so when the roads are widened, he has less risk of losing some of his land. Meaning people on the other side of the road cop more/all of it.

Clever, eh?

The problem is that all developments except this one can be monitored and controlled by the ACT govt so that the whole community benefits. The airport is exempt from local zoning controls. It means that his plans are isolated and immune from any impact on the surrounds, unlike any other development. He gets the benefit without having to wear any responsibility, i.e. pay the ancillary costs that any other commercial developer would have to.

I’m happy for the airport to make money as long as total cost to the community is factored in and he doesn’t get a free ride like as at present.

Ant workers dont pay $15 a day, they are talking long stay parks for people flying interstate.

I’m not sure if it’s still running, however workers could park for free at the Brand depot and catch a free shuttle to civic. Also there is a Dean’s airport shuttle bus, which I believe runs every hour to Civic and back.

So what if Terry Snow is making money? – good on him. Why should he have to fix the roads out there, isn’t that what we pay taxes are for, or are our tax dollars only for glassworks and statues these days.

The ACTION route 80 went to the airport for a little while in 2000/01 from memory but was cut out due to lack of patronage. I remember catching it one Friday night when the taxi queue was horrendous.
I hear a whisper that ACTION is maybe planning a return to the airport later this year with their revised timetable.

OYM I believe the rumour – otherwise why wouldn’t Action go to the airport?

What a shambles. I tried to drive INTO Canberra during evening rush hour some weeks back, and the airport mess was even worse going west than it is in the morning.

So if it costs 15 bucks to leave your car out there all day, I cannot believe that the workers pay that every day?

It sure is suss that there’s no Action bus. There was an Airport Bus run by Action (or its predecessor) up til about 78, from memory. Then they cut it out, and Duntroon was the furthest out it’d come.

Interestingly, the mess at the airport coming into Canberra of a morning has been quite bearable while the Oaks Estate road has been closed! I wouldn’t have thought that the road delivered enough traffic to make a difference, but the past 3 days have seen no huge buildup/stop-start lines of cars.

Not to mention the other long narrow parking lot on a Friday nite with Qantas jets waiting 20 minutes, some times an hour, to unload passengers.

This naturally bumps up the parking lot takings further. The funniest thing about this weekly friday night delay is qantas always blames it on the weather…

i rather walk to work i dont care if i live in cooma you will still save money .. but you may have to leave 48hours before your shift a. fuck walking home bus it or just set up a tent in your office box and get overtime .. HAHAH i love being a TRADIE .. FREEE PARkING HHEHeh eHEhehe .. what did you say ? yeah dont say that man its illegal like pimping on the corner for da cash .. u kow wat im shaying ? yeah so the moral is dont get drunk and post stuipd shit like me because people can read these days

OpenYourMind5:45 pm 29 Jun 07

If it’s a short trip, I much prefer leaving my car at the airport rather than dealing with the taxi BS.

I just hate the fact that either way, you are lining Terry Snow’s pockets. I can’t believe Govt departments move to Brindabella Park and Fairbairn (there’s 4 new buildings at the back of the airport) when there’s no public transport and no cycleways and CAG (Canberra Airport Group) controls the parking. Shafted!

Does anyone know if there is truth to the rumour that Action would run buses out there, but CAG wants to charge ACTION a visitation fee and ACTION refuses to pay it?

$15 a day is good. The last taxi I caught to and from the airport cost me $45 each way.

Damn! The ‘secret’ is out.

Those extra spaces better come on line pretty soon. Already it can be tricky getting a park in the long stay park even when you get there before 6am.

neanderthalsis4:32 pm 29 Jun 07

$15 a day to leave your car in the long term carpark is still a hell of a lot better than booking a taxi that will either:
1)Not show up
2)Show up late
3)Charge you $30 – 40 to and from the airport.

I know what I will keep doing…

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt4:30 pm 29 Jun 07

Talking to our corporate hire car provider recently I was told that had to ship in heaps of new hire cars for businesses since taxis went to voice recognition. Makes sense, especially when you look at the costs of a corporate rate hire car.

If only the airport would contribute some money to help fix the road problems out there…

Is anyone surprised by this?…..i mean really?

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