{"id":1452,"date":"2012-11-02T16:38:12","date_gmt":"2012-11-02T16:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anythingforhire.com\/news\/?p=1452"},"modified":"2017-07-20T12:45:55","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T11:45:55","slug":"smartphone-apps-for-private-hire-vehicle-bookings-illegal-says-nsw-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/smartphone-apps-for-private-hire-vehicle-bookings-illegal-says-nsw-govt\/","title":{"rendered":"Smartphone apps for private hire vehicle bookings \u201cillegal\u201d, says NSW govt"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new smartphone app launched in Sydney that allows customers to book private hire<\/a> cars instead of taxis may be illegal according to the New South Wales government.<\/p>\n

Uber<\/a> and Dash, two new apps that have soft-launched in Sydney, connects customers to private hire<\/a> car drivers who can then book their services on demand. Unlike popular taxi booking apps like GoCatch, Ingogo, Taxi Pro and myTaxi, Uber<\/a> and Dash allow customers to connect to private hire<\/a> car drivers instead of licensed taxi hires.<\/p>\n

Private hire vehicles differ from licensed taxis in that they need to be pre-booked and do not allow pick-ups from the street. According to the Passenger Transport Act, it is also required that the fare be agreed in the booking process for private hire<\/a> vehicles. However, Uber<\/a> and Dash are alleged to be operating in a legal grey area as cars linked to these apps can be booked minutes in advance of the pick-up and do not adhere to an agreed fare during the booking process. While Uber<\/a> and Dash list standard fares on their app site ($8 base far with an additional $3.25 per kilometre for speeds over 18 km\/hr and $1.25 for speeds below 18 km\/hr), the prices aboard these private hire<\/a> vehicles vary based on distance travelled, speed and time in reality.<\/p>\n

A Transport for New South Wales spokesman said: \u201cThe use of any technology to work out fares based on speed or time by a hire car driver operator is an offence. Should a complaint be lodged against a driver or operator about the use of the equipment, Roads and Maritime Services has powers to investigate and prosecute drivers and operators for using this technology.”<\/p>\n

Taxi booking apps already available on smartphones like GoCatch claim that Uber<\/a> and Dash are blurring the distinction between taxis and a private hire<\/a> vehicle. Both Uber<\/a> and Dash maintain that their apps are based on legal advice and uphold the sound nature of their business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new smartphone app launched in Sydney that allows customers to book private hire cars instead of taxis may be illegal according to the New South Wales government. Uber and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10,5,8],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-car-hire","category-hire-rental-news","category-transport-hire"],"amp_validity":null,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1782,"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions\/1782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anythingforhire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}