State of the industry

Find out the latest passenger transport industry statistics, including on-demand booking service and passenger transport vehicle authorisation totals.

Authorisation data on this page is current at the end of each financial quarter reported.

If you require any information that is not featured on this page, please contact On-demand Transport to discuss your data needs.  

On-demand transport in WA: passenger research insights

In September 2023, Painted Dog Research conducted research for the Department of Transport (DoT), to measure:

  • how people use on-demand transport in WA; and 
  • how they feel about it.

Understanding more about passenger behaviour and sentiment will:

  • help the Department of Transport (DoT) when we develop future regulations, as well as informing our communications and educational messaging; and
  • support industry to provide services in line with customer wants and expectations.

Methodology

Over 1,000 people in the Perth metropolitan area and almost 350 regional residents completed a survey. After this, small focus groups were conducted to further explore the survey findings.

Note: in this research, on-demand transport was defined as including:

  • any conventional taxi;
  • a wheelchair accessible taxi;
  • any rideshare service;
  • a charter vehicle service (e.g. private airport transfers);
  • any limousine service;
  • any charter bus service (e.g. school excursions, mining company transport); and
  • any party bus.

Key findings

  • In the last 12 months:
    • 71% of Perth metropolitan residents have used on-demand transport; and
    • 50% of regional residents have used on-demand transport.
  • 1 in 2 people use on-demand transport to get to or from bars, restaurants or social outings.
  • According to passengers, the three most important things for providers to get right are reliability, pricing and driver skills
  • At least 8 in 10 passengers are satisfied with their most recent on-demand transport experience.
  • Passengers think the best thing about on-demand transport is convenience, while cancelled trips are the worst.
  • Safety is very important to passengers. Their most important safety features are:
    • police checks for drivers;
    • GPS tracking for their trips; and
    • camera surveillance in the vehicle.

  On-demand booking services

ODBS illustration
ODBS illustration

777

Total active on-demand booking service (ODBS) authorisations at the end of the June 2024 financial quarter.

End of financial quarter Total active ODBS authorisations
September 2024 800
June 2024 778
March 2024 776
December 2023 783
September 2023 754
June 2023 734
March 2023 714
December 2022 722
September 2022 706
June 2022 695
March 2022 768
December 2021 814
September 2021 817
June 2021 850
March 2021 888
December 2020 882
September 2020 872
June 2020 840
March 2020 831
December 2019 857
September 2019 821
June 2019 730
March 2019 309

 

Regular passenger transport service providers

On-demand_transport_bus
On-demand_transport_bus

15

Total authorised regular passenger transport (RPT) service providers at the end of the June 2024 financial quarter.

  Passenger transport vehicles

Number of authorised passenger transport vehicles

Passenger transport vehicles (PTVs) can be authorised in multiple categories, including: 

  • on-demand rank or hail;  
  • on-demand charter;
  • tourism passenger transport (TPT); and
  • regular passenger transport (RPT).

Therefore when reading the below data, please be aware that the total number of authorised PTVs is not equal to the sum of all categories.

All PTVs illustration
All PTVs illustration

25,548

Total active PTV authorisations at the end of the September 2024 financial quarter.

End of financial quarter Rank or hail Charter TPT RPT Rank or hail WAV* Total active PTV authorisations
September 2024 2,463 22,604 5,912 4,650 226 25,548
June 2024 2,460 22,008 5,805 4,414 222 24,941
March 2024 2,449 21,137 5,756 4,192 217 24,012
December 2023 2,470 20,182 5,698 3,995 212 23,094
September 2023 2,505 18,887 5,576 3,760 201 21,807
June 2023 2,488 18,093 5,624 3,597 193 20,958
March 2023 2,357 16,893 5,553 3,398 189 19,622
December 2022 2,284 15,856 5,543 3,200 184 18,494
September 2022 2,196 14,743 5,642 3,060 180 17,310
June 2022 2,122 14,219 5,773 2,874 175 16,676
March 2022 2,172 14,127 6,026 2,789 172 16,600
December 2021 2,236 14,881 6,487 2,825 168 17,400
September 2021 2,272 15,078 6,952 2,765 167 17,621
June 2021 2,273 15,652 7,641 2,799 167 18,185
March 2021 2,268 16,060 8,270 2,744 166 18,557
December 2020 2,312 16,463 8,877 2,683 164 18,977
September 2020 2,397 16,013 9,308 2,565 164 18,613
June 2020 2,444 15,903 10,055 2,436 164 18,532
March 2020 2,580 16,197 10,993 2,250 167 18,956
December 2019 2,515 16,284 12,512 2,200 166 18,930
September 2019 2,313 15,497 13,529 1,914 144 17,878

* Wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) are vehicles that meet specific safety and accessibility standards, including the installation of a ramp or hoist, and appropriate wheelchair restraints. Only WAVs with a rank or hail category of PTV authorisation can access the Taxi User Subsidy Scheme (TUSS) in WA.

Passenger transport drivers

Number of authorised passenger transport drivers 

passenger_transport_driver_graphic
passenger_transport_driver_graphic

41,442

Total active passenger transport driver (PTD) authorisations at the end of the September 2024 financial quarter.

End of financial quarter Total active PTD authorisation
September 2024 41,442
June 2024 40,411
March 2024 39,235
December 2023 38,558
September 2023 37,299
June 2023 36,092
March 2023 34,735
December 2022 34,037
September 2022 32,824
June 2022 31,885
March 2022 31,485
December 2021 31,253
September 2021 29,628
June 2021 24,338
March 2021 17,660
December 2020 13,071
September 2020 7,513

Notifiable occurrences and alleged driver conduct reports

A notifiable occurrence is an incident of a serious nature that involves, or has the potential to result in injury, violence or abuse of a person. On-demand booking services (ODBSs) are required to submit details of notifiable occurrences to the Department of Transport (DoT) as soon as is practicable.

An alleged driver conduct report is a report made by an authorised ODBS to notify DoT of allegations that a driver of an on-demand passenger transport vehicle was engaged in conduct that would affect the driver’s suitability to drive in the on-demand transport industry. Alleged driver conduct reports must be made within 48 hours of the ODBS becoming aware of the alleged conduct.

The below information reflects reports received for incidents that occurred from 1 July 2019 onwards.

Visit On-demand transport industry portals for more information about notifiable occurrences and alleged driver conduct reports.

Please note: the incident numbers reported below may not be fully reflective of all incidents that have occurred, as DoT’s data relies on reports to be received from ODBSs. 

2024

Category March 2024 June 2024 September 2024 Total per category
Camera misuse 0 0 0 0
Driver Conduct: Criminal complaint 6 8 1 15
Driver Conduct: Criminal charge 0 1 1 2
Driver Conduct: Other 53 58 56 167
Mechanical Failure 5 3 5 13
Passenger Conduct: Criminal complaint 29 31 32 92
Vehicle Accident: Minor 2 4 4 10
Vehicle Accident: Moderate 50 83 104 237
Vehicle Accident: Serious  15 21 22 58
Total per quarter 160 209 225 594

2023

Category March 2023 June 2023 September 2023 December 2023 Total per category
Camera misuse 0 0 0 0 0
Driver Conduct: Criminal complaint 8 6 1 6 21
Driver Conduct: Criminal charge 0 0 0 0 0
Driver Conduct: Other 55 45 72 57 229
Mechanical Failure 2 3 0 3 8
Passenger Conduct: Criminal complaint 20 28 14 23 85
Vehicle Accident: Minor 5 7 6 9 27
Vehicle Accident: Moderate 65 81 60 53 259
Vehicle Accident: Serious  9 7 14 17 47
Total per quarter 164 177 167 168 676

2022   

Category March 2022 June 2022 September 2022 December 2022 Total per category
Camera misuse 1 0 0 0 1
Driver Conduct: Criminal complaint 7 8 11 5 31
Driver Conduct: Criminal charge 0 0 0 0 0
Driver Conduct: Other 75 59 66 65 265
Mechanical Failure 2 3 0 0 5
Passenger Conduct: Criminal complaint 39 25 34 25 123
Vehicle Accident: Minor 24 25 11 8 68
Vehicle Accident: Moderate 41 64 60 40 205
Vehicle Accident: Serious  11 14 11 8 44
Total per quarter 200 198 193 151 742

2021

Category March 2021 June 2021 September 2021 December 2021 Total per category
Camera misuse 0 1 0 0 1
Driver Conduct: Criminal complaint 11 6 12 16 45
Driver Conduct: Criminal charge 0 0 1 0 1
Driver Conduct: Other 70 78 74 84 306
Mechanical Failure 1 2 5 2 10
Passenger Conduct: Criminal complaint 41 35 31 46 153
Vehicle Accident: Minor 5 5 7 9 26
Vehicle Accident: Moderate 10 18 8 13 49
Vehicle Accident: Serious  49 50 54 75 228
Total per quarter 187 195 192 245 819

2020

Category March 2020 June 2020 September 2020 December 2020 Total per category
Camera misuse 0 1 0 0 1
Driver Conduct: Criminal complaint 7 2 7 9 25
Driver Conduct: Criminal charge 3 0 0 1 4
Driver Conduct: Other 20 21 20 40 101
Mechanical Failure 1 0 3 7 11
Passenger Conduct: Criminal complaint 18 14 30 44 106
Vehicle Accident: Minor 4 4 6 8 22
Vehicle Accident: Moderate 13 6 7 9 35
Vehicle Accident: Serious  31 10 36 47 124
Total per quarter 97 58 109 165 429

2019

Category September 2019 December 2019 Total per category
Camera misuse 0 0 0
Driver Conduct: Criminal complaint 11 3 14
Driver Conduct: Criminal charge 2 0 2
Driver Conduct: Other 22 23 45
Mechanical Failure 1 0 1
Passenger Conduct: Criminal complaint 12 11 23
Vehicle Accident: Minor 9 9 18
Vehicle Accident: Moderate 11 5 16
Vehicle Accident: Serious  35 32 67
Total per quarter 103 83 186
Page last updated: Mon Oct 7 2024 12:40:34 PM