Queensland cracking down on taxi subsidy scheme fraud

Authorities are cracking down on the rorting of a taxi subsidy scheme meant to help people with disabilities, Minister for Transport and Main Roads Paul Lucas said today.

Mr Lucas said Queensland Transport was working with police to prosecute offenders and was developing a new electronic card that would make it even harder for people to defraud the system.

Under the disability taxi subsidy scheme, the State Government pays 50% of each taxi fare up to $25, for people with disabilities who are unable to use other forms of public transport.

Mr Lucas said a small minority of taxi drivers and passengers were claiming subsidies for journeys not taken, claiming the full fare instead of half-fare, or using vouchers they were not entitled to use.

“This is an essential service that helps around 58,000 disadvantaged people in our community get around, and we won’t tolerate people trying to rip it off,” Mr Lucas said.

Mr Lucas said two men had been issued notices to appear over multiple counts of fraud involving over $60,000 of taxi subsidies and were due to appear in Cleveland Magistrates court in mid-November.

This follows the successful prosecution last December of a taxi driver on 27 counts of fraud. On that occasion the driver was fined $13,500 and a conviction was recorded.

Mr Lucas said Queensland Transport conducted its own investigations into possible anomalies and worked closely with police when irregularities arose.

He said new technology to combat misuse of the existing paper-based system would be installed in Queensland taxis by the end of 2007.

“Queensland Transport is already on the case, tracking down people doing the wrong thing,” Mr Lucas said.

“And over the next year, we’ll be improving the technology in the state’s cabs to make it even harder for people to get away with fraud.”

Mr Lucas said tenders to develop and implement the new system were currently being evaluated and a decision on a successful tenderer was expected next month, with the technology being rolled out from early 2007.

It is expected the electronic system will read the exact fare from the meter; confirm the trip origin, destination and distance, and automatically deduct the value of the subsidy. When a similar card was introduced in Victoria there was a significant reduction in fraudulent transactions.

“The proposed new system involves using technology for an electronic transaction card linked to the taxi meter and GPS system,” Mr Lucas said.

“This will do away with the old process of using paper vouchers, and will be more cost effective and secure for users and the taxi industry.

“The existing paper-based system means vouchers could be stolen or lost and not easily returned.

“Under an electronic system, lost or stolen cards can easily be cancelled.

“The new card will be linked to the meter and will stop drivers and passengers colluding to defraud the scheme by claiming the fare was higher than it actually was.

“Let this be a warning to anyone thinking of taking advantage of the system: it will not be tolerated, you will be caught and you will be prosecuted.

“We want to provide all available assistance for the people who genuinely need it – not for frauds and cheats,” Mr Lucas said.