New secure smartcard tackles taxi subsidy fraud- Cairns pilot
Published Monday, 24 September, 2007 at 08:45 AM
Minister for Transport, Trade, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel
Queensland's 47,000 Taxi Subsidy Scheme members will be issued with a new smartcard designed to make the system easier for them and remove the potential for fraudulent use.
Transport Minister John Mickel said a pilot of the new system would begin in Cairns today (Monday, 24 September), and the cards should be rolled out State-wide in October.
The Taxi Subsidy Scheme is available to people with disabilities who meet a stringent Queensland Health test.
The state government paid 50 percent of taxi fares for eligible members to a limit of $25 for each trip taken.
"It's about helping people get more mobile and having a better quality of life," Mr Mickel said.
"During 2005-06, an average 5255 trips were made each day by members of the Taxi Subsidy Scheme, and the total subsidy paid out by the government exceeded $12 million.
"Unfortunately, the current paper voucher-based system is open to fraudulent use by unscrupulous people, and Queensland Transport has found a number of such cases.
"All people who are found to have cheated the system are prosecuted, but there is no way to tell whether all the fraudsters are being caught. The new smartcard, with photo identification, reduces the risk of fraud significantly," Mr Mickel said.
Under the current system, books of paper vouchers were issued to members to hand to taxi drivers who then recorded the trip details and claimed payment from Queensland Transport.
Queensland Transport had found fraudulent misuse of the system including:
• taxi drivers charging far more for trips than the actual cost;
• taxi drivers taking multiple vouchers from members – even entire books – and filling out false trip details;
• non-members taking vouchers from members and using them in taxis;
• taxi drivers claiming the full fare from the government (instead of the 50 percent permitted); and
• members colluding with taxi drivers to make false claims for trips that did not take place.
"The Taxi Subsidy Scheme provides affordable travel by taxi for people with disabilities who are unable to use other forms of public transport, and ripping off that fund is a particularly loathsome thing to do," Mr Mickel said.
"The majority of members, their carers and taxi drivers are honest people who are doing the right thing. They welcome the new smartcard because it simplifies the system for both members and drivers while blocking misuse by the few dishonest people in the system.
"It also provides significant administration savings for the taxi industry and the government," he said.
The smartcard will replace all the paper vouchers.
A member's personalised smartcard is inserted into the taxi's smartcard reader and an automatic check is made that the smartcard and the person using it is the member identified on the car. The system automatically calculates the subsidy and how much the member is required to pay.
Details of the taxi trip are collected automatically and forwarded to Queensland Transport, which conducts integrity checks and makes regular payments of subsidies to taxi companies.
"Because the card has photo identification on it, taxi drivers are able to easily verify that the user is the owner of the card," Mr Mickel said.
"These inbuilt safeguards in the smartcard system will help ensure all available assistance funding goes to people who need it – not to frauds and cheats.
"Lost and stolen smartcards can be deactivated within hours of Queensland Transport being notified.
"Taxi drivers involved in cheating the system are taking a ridiculous risk because, if convicted, on top of any court-imposed penalty they could lose their Driver Authorisation and be banned from working in the passenger transport industry," Mr Mickel said.
Queensland Transport stepped up misuse/fraud investigations into the Taxi Subsidy Scheme last year, in ongoing joint investigations with the Queensland Police Service Fraud Squad.
Results include:
• taxi driver fined $8000 at Cleveland Magistrates Court on November 13, 2006;
• taxi driver fined $13,000 and put on a two-year good behaviour bond at Cleveland Magistrates Court on November 20, 2006;
• taxi driver fined $5000 at Brisbane Magistrate Court on January 8, 2007;
• taxi driver's Driver Authorisation suspended for two years from April 2, 2007 and he was ordered to pay restitution of $13,818 to Queensland Transport;
• two taxi drivers each fined $1000 and put on two-year good behaviour bonds at Mossman Magistrates Court on June 20, 2007;
• two taxi drivers with proceedings currently before Cairns Magistrates Court on separate Taxi Subsidy Scheme-related matters;
• charges pending against three Gold Coast taxi drivers;
• a member currently before Brisbane Magistrates Court; and
• charges pending against a Brisbane taxi driver.
Media contact: Chris Brown 3237 1944 or Elouise Campion 3237 1125.
September 24, 2007
Transport Minister John Mickel said a pilot of the new system would begin in Cairns today (Monday, 24 September), and the cards should be rolled out State-wide in October.
The Taxi Subsidy Scheme is available to people with disabilities who meet a stringent Queensland Health test.
The state government paid 50 percent of taxi fares for eligible members to a limit of $25 for each trip taken.
"It's about helping people get more mobile and having a better quality of life," Mr Mickel said.
"During 2005-06, an average 5255 trips were made each day by members of the Taxi Subsidy Scheme, and the total subsidy paid out by the government exceeded $12 million.
"Unfortunately, the current paper voucher-based system is open to fraudulent use by unscrupulous people, and Queensland Transport has found a number of such cases.
"All people who are found to have cheated the system are prosecuted, but there is no way to tell whether all the fraudsters are being caught. The new smartcard, with photo identification, reduces the risk of fraud significantly," Mr Mickel said.
Under the current system, books of paper vouchers were issued to members to hand to taxi drivers who then recorded the trip details and claimed payment from Queensland Transport.
Queensland Transport had found fraudulent misuse of the system including:
• taxi drivers charging far more for trips than the actual cost;
• taxi drivers taking multiple vouchers from members – even entire books – and filling out false trip details;
• non-members taking vouchers from members and using them in taxis;
• taxi drivers claiming the full fare from the government (instead of the 50 percent permitted); and
• members colluding with taxi drivers to make false claims for trips that did not take place.
"The Taxi Subsidy Scheme provides affordable travel by taxi for people with disabilities who are unable to use other forms of public transport, and ripping off that fund is a particularly loathsome thing to do," Mr Mickel said.
"The majority of members, their carers and taxi drivers are honest people who are doing the right thing. They welcome the new smartcard because it simplifies the system for both members and drivers while blocking misuse by the few dishonest people in the system.
"It also provides significant administration savings for the taxi industry and the government," he said.
The smartcard will replace all the paper vouchers.
A member's personalised smartcard is inserted into the taxi's smartcard reader and an automatic check is made that the smartcard and the person using it is the member identified on the car. The system automatically calculates the subsidy and how much the member is required to pay.
Details of the taxi trip are collected automatically and forwarded to Queensland Transport, which conducts integrity checks and makes regular payments of subsidies to taxi companies.
"Because the card has photo identification on it, taxi drivers are able to easily verify that the user is the owner of the card," Mr Mickel said.
"These inbuilt safeguards in the smartcard system will help ensure all available assistance funding goes to people who need it – not to frauds and cheats.
"Lost and stolen smartcards can be deactivated within hours of Queensland Transport being notified.
"Taxi drivers involved in cheating the system are taking a ridiculous risk because, if convicted, on top of any court-imposed penalty they could lose their Driver Authorisation and be banned from working in the passenger transport industry," Mr Mickel said.
Queensland Transport stepped up misuse/fraud investigations into the Taxi Subsidy Scheme last year, in ongoing joint investigations with the Queensland Police Service Fraud Squad.
Results include:
• taxi driver fined $8000 at Cleveland Magistrates Court on November 13, 2006;
• taxi driver fined $13,000 and put on a two-year good behaviour bond at Cleveland Magistrates Court on November 20, 2006;
• taxi driver fined $5000 at Brisbane Magistrate Court on January 8, 2007;
• taxi driver's Driver Authorisation suspended for two years from April 2, 2007 and he was ordered to pay restitution of $13,818 to Queensland Transport;
• two taxi drivers each fined $1000 and put on two-year good behaviour bonds at Mossman Magistrates Court on June 20, 2007;
• two taxi drivers with proceedings currently before Cairns Magistrates Court on separate Taxi Subsidy Scheme-related matters;
• charges pending against three Gold Coast taxi drivers;
• a member currently before Brisbane Magistrates Court; and
• charges pending against a Brisbane taxi driver.
Media contact: Chris Brown 3237 1944 or Elouise Campion 3237 1125.
September 24, 2007