Busselton transport crisis growing as venues forced to ferry own patrons home

Busselton’s festering transport problem has become so bad that pub and restaurant managers are having to drive their patrons home after a night out. The tourism town is covered by just one taxi company that can operate only six days a week, and has no bus route that runs past 5pm on any day, with no transport services available to the public at all on Sundays. The issue has become so bad Vasse MLA Libby Mettam has penned a letter to Transport Minister Rita Saffioti urging her to roll out an urgent review across regional WA, but the State Government does not plan to take action. Several publicans and restaurant owners the Busselton Dunsborough Times spoke to said their venues felt forced to run their own transfer services just so their customers could make it home safely. The Esplanade venue manager Shane Tin said he had even driven patrons home in his own personal vehicle because he was worried they would otherwise be stranded. “There aren’t any taxis — a lot of people are not coming out because they can’t get home,” he said. “People would be more inclined to support our local night life and local businesses if there was a good transport system in place. “On Sundays we have people come in and they ask us for a ride ... then they have no way to get home. I end up dropping them off home.” Mr Tin said it was “embarrassing” that a big tourism area such as Busselton could not provide visitors with the essential service and called for better support for taxis. The Vasse Tavern and The Deck Busselton owner John Triplett runs a courtesy bus from both venues to ensure pub-goers have a safe way of getting home. He said any public transport or a better supported taxi service would help “immensely”. “People want to come out and enjoy the evening with their friends and they want to get home safely and a lot of people cut their going out and entertainment in the city to stay at home because of that reason,” he said. “Having people able to safely move around would be a beautiful thing — coming to the town in the evening, it is dead. “Saturday night is very quiet, Sunday night is absolutely finished.” In her letter to the Transport Minister, Ms Mettam said on-demand transport reforms that were rolled out by the State Government were to blame for the shrinking numbers of cabs in the South West town. As part of the reforms introduced last year, drivers were made to transition to a new Passenger Transport Vehicle model, meaning the hundreds of thousands of dollars country operators had paid for their taxi plates had become “worthless”. The scheme was widely criticised in regional WA for making the taxi industry unviable. Ms Mettam said the reforms needed to be urgently reviewed to address critical transport concerns in her Vasse electorate, as well as across regional WA. “I ask that an urgent review be undertaken to identify any unintended consequences of the reform process and to recommend how these shortfalls can be addressed so that those people who rely on these services are able to access them.” Ms Mettam said she had spoken to an elderly man with partial sight who had been unable to hire a local taxi to visit his wife in Busselton Hospital. “Unfortunately this is not an isolated case, and is just one example of local residents who have contacted me regarding a visible reduction in taxi provision available for community members and visitors to the region,” she said. “Effective transport linkages are a vital foundation of inclusive communities, enabling the efficient and safe movement of people that is critical to their quality of life.” In her response, Ms Saffioti said the reforms had resulted in “very little practical change” for most regional taxi operators. She said there had been no reduction in the ability to run services, but the issue was instead about access to drivers. “Customer demand for passenger transport services is strong in the South West and ... operators there claim it is a lack of access to taxi drivers which is of concern,” she said. “Many businesses across WA have been significantly affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is now vital the WA community and businesses adapt to the challenges of an environment where increased tourism activity is combined with a labour shortage,” she said. Busselton Taxis owner Janet Devenny said the reforms and introduction of ride-share drivers meant it was no longer sustainable for them to operate 24/7. “The taxi industry needs a significant rate rise to be able to provide an on-demand transport service seven days a week and attract drivers to work weekends and nights,” she said. “We have been going over this ground for the last four years and no one seems to care. “The Government smashed down the goal posts for all regional taxi services, with no consultation to regional operators. “They now need to come up with a solution to fix it.” Popular metro ride-share service Uber has operated in Busselton since 2018, and Ola and DiDi since February and August last year respectively. But a lack of interest in people driving for the companies has caused peak hour work on Fridays and Saturdays to be snatched up while the rest of the week remains unserviced.