Frustration In City Taxi Ranks

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday March 6, 2008

By JODIE MINUS

A MEETING between the Wollongong Radio Cabs board, taxi owners and lessees degenerated into a slanging match as two clear factions emerged among the co-operative's members.

They met on Tuesday night to discuss a letter circulated by cab owner John Bernardi, which outlined benefits of joining the St George Cabs Co-operative and establishing a rival taxi service in the Illawarra.

Wollongong Radio Cabs chairman Alan Mete dissected the letter point by point and urged members not to defect.

"You are living in the Illawarra and for the benefit of every member it's better if you stay in the one co-operative," he said.

"There is no benefit from having two co-operatives; the passengers will all ring up the two numbers and they will take the first cab that turns up."

But Mr Mete was interrupted as members and lessees aired grievances ranging from the price of co-operative shares and the tender of docket work, to problems with the base. One thing that was clear was the frustration among many owners and lessees.

It also emerged that an outmoded telephone, radio and computer system at the Crown St base had been the root of many problems.

According to board member Brian Woods, the system would become jammed at the busiest periods, leaving many potential passengers on hold for more than 20 minutes, while some callers could not get through at all.

But Mr Woods encouraged members to "hang in there" because a $170,000 system being installed would be ready within three weeks.

"The phone system is one of the root causes of our problems," he said. "But we have been working on getting it right for the past 12 months and hopefully in the next few weeks we will switch over to the new system. It is a complete upgrade of our call centre."

Yesterday, Mr Bernardi said he was not happy with the results of the meeting.

A St George Cabs Co-operative representative will host an information night at the Illawarra Steelers Club on Monday.