COVID-19 information for passenger transport industry

On-demand booking services (ODBSs) have a legislated responsibility to ensure the health and safety of drivers and passengers and may enforce different protocols to do this during this time. ODBSs should update their safety management systems to ensure they have the necessary steps in place to minimise risk to drivers and passengers. 

Health and safety advice for drivers

To help stay safe, you can ask passengers if they have tested positive for COVID-19 before they get in your vehicle, so you can take extra precautions. 

You are encouraged to:

• stay home if sick and get tested;
• stay up to date with your vaccinations;
• physical distance whenever you can;
• wash or sanitise hands often;
• provide hand sanitiser to passengers;
• clean your vehicle regularly; 
• encourage contactless payment;
• avoid handling passengers’ luggage;
• ask passengers to sit in the back; and
• open windows and set air conditioning to fresh.

For more information, visit the WA Government COVID-19 (coronavirus) website.

A range of COVID-19 relief measures were passed for the passenger transport industry in April 2020, including: 

• On-demand booking service (ODBS) authorisation and passenger transport vehicle (PTV) authorisation renewal fees were waived for authorisations that were active on 9 April 2020, with renewals due on or before 31 March 2021.
• A one-off payment of $2,500 was paid in June 2020 to ODBSs that held an active ODBS authorisation and active PTV authorisation on 1 April 2020.
• The timeframe for regional and metropolitan taxi operators to install an approved type of camera surveillance unit (CSU) was extended to 1 July 2021 (previously the deadline was 2 July 2020).

All motor vehicle registration fee increases have also been frozen until at least 1 July 2021.

For the purposes of Regulation 129(2) of the Transport (Road Passenger Services) Regulations 2020, which prohibits surge pricing in an emergency area, the whole state of Western Australia has been declared an exempt area from the State of Emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please read the CEO Department of Transport’s determination on surge pricing prohibition – Determination – exempt area in relation to emergency declaration (available below).

What does this mean for my on-demand booking service?

This means on-demand booking services can now re-commence surge pricing at times of high demand in Western Australia, even with the COVID-19 State of Emergency Declaration still being in effect.

If an emergency of a different nature (such as a flood, bush fire or major security incident) is declared within Western Australia, surge pricing in relation to that emergency will not be permitted.

Why has this decision been made?

On Sunday 15 March 2020, Western Australia was declared an emergency area due to COVID-19 under the Emergency Management Act 2005.

Under the Transport (Road Passenger Services) Regulations 2020, surge pricing and queue-jumping fees are not allowed when a State of Emergency has been declared for an area.

The ban on surge pricing during a State of Emergency is intended to ensure that people who are directed to leave, or are voluntarily leaving, an affected area during a serious emergency are not financially penalised by operators demanding high fares.

When Regulation 129(2) was originally enacted, the declaration of a long-term state-wide emergency, such as is in place in connection with COVID-19, was not envisaged.