Whats different about taxi fares?
Sydney Morning Herald Saturday July 4, 2009 Elisabeth Sexton LAST week’s legal action by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission can hardly have come as a surprise to Cabcharge.Apart from the fact that the regulator used its powers of compulsion to interview several Cabcharge executives on oath in 2007, the economics of the taxi industry have attracted longstanding criticism.In September the Victorian Essential Services Commission expressed concern about Cabcharge’s “preferential position”: “In consequence … Cabcharge is able to obtain a 10 per cent fee for each credit card transaction, which some consider to be a relatively high royalty,” its report said.Three months earlier the NSW pricing regulator had called for an inquiry. “Of particular concern is the fact that Cabcharge is able to apply a surcharge to electronic payments at a level substantially above what exists for similar types of payments in a competitive environment and that Cabcharge charges a flat percentage
