CORONAVIRUS —
ON-DEMAND TRANSPORT — SURGE PRICING
928. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the minister representing the Minister for Transport:
I refer to COVID-19 relief for the
passenger transport industry and that surge pricing is not allowed when a state
of emergency has been declared.
(1) What is the
difference between surge pricing and dynamic pricing with reference to
on-demand transport providers?
(2) Why has the
state government given Uber special permission to implement dynamic pricing,
given the state is still in a declared state of emergency?
(3) Have any
other transport providers been granted similar special permissions; and, if so,
which companies?
(4) Has any on-demand transport provider breached the
current surge pricing and/or dynamic pricing restrictions; and, if so,
which provider or providers and how many times?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the Leader of the
Opposition for some notice of the question.
(1) Surge pricing
is defined in the Transport (Road Passenger Services) Regulations 2020.
Regulation 129 of the Transport (Road
Passenger Services) Regulations 2020 prohibits the use of surge pricing for the
provision of a passenger transport
service in an emergency area as defined in the Emergency Management Act 2005.
The purpose of this regulation is to ensure that people who are directed to
leave, or are voluntarily leaving, an affected area in a serious emergency
situation, often in large numbers, are not financially penalised by transport
operators demanding high fares. The current COVID-19 state of emergency is
different from what was contemplated during the drafting of the regulations in
that there are not currently large volumes of people trying to evacuate an
area.
(2)–(4) No,
the state government has not granted special permission to any transport
provider. However, there is now a level of competition in the on-demand
transport industry and consumers are encouraged to take advantage of this
increased competition.