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Transporting people with disability
This page includes information for drivers about working with people with disability, including driver training and responsibilities, assistance animals and safely transporting mobility devices.
If you are not already a taxi driver but would like to be, you will need to apply for and be granted a passenger transport driver (PTD) authorisation.
Are you a passenger transport vehicle owner or authorisation holder? Visit Wheelchair accessible vehicles for specific information about vehicles equipped with modifications to provide safe on-demand transport services for people seated in wheelchairs.
Taxi User Subsidy Scheme Guidelines
The Taxi User Subsidy Scheme (TUSS) Guidelines outline how TUSS operates in WA and describe the rules of using TUSS for participants, drivers and on-demand booking services (ODBSs).
Penalties apply if the TUSS Guidelines are not followed or if drivers refuse to accept TUSS vouchers.
Read the TUSS Guidelines below.
| WA Taxi User Subsidy Scheme (TUSS) Guidelines – November 2023 | Kb | |
We’re modernising TUSS
The WA Government committed funding in its 2022-23 State budget to modernise and improve the Taxi User Subsidy Scheme (TUSS).
Based on feedback from previous consultation with taxi industry members and TUSS participants, the updated TUSS will:
- no longer require the use of paper vouchers;
- replace the current TUSS card with a modern participant card for TUSS participants; and
- provide a digital system for taxi drivers that will record all the trip details, supporting subsidy payments to be made more quickly.
It is estimated that the updated TUSS will be available across WA by late 2024.
Visit About the TUSS reform for more information about the changes, and how to keep updated.
Accepting TUSS vouchers
All taxi drivers in WA are legally required to accept TUSS vouchers as part payment for a fare.
After completing a TUSS voucher for a taxi journey, the driver is entitled to payment for the subsidised fare from the Department of Transport (DoT).
Visit How to accept TUSS vouchers to learn how to:
- complete TUSS vouchers correctly; and
- submit TUSS vouchers for reimbursement.
Driver education and training
As a driver for an on-demand booking service (ODBS), you have a duty of care to your passengers. These passengers may have a disability, be vulnerable or have diverse accessibility needs.
If you’re driving a WAV taxi, you need be able to demonstrate that you are competent in the safe loading, restraint and unloading of a passenger in a wheelchair.
Nationally recognised units of competency outline performance standards for particular workplace skills. TLIC0026 is now the unit of competency related to providing wheelchair accessible taxi services to passengers with disability (see link below). This supersedes the previous unit of competency, TLI2040.
You need to be able to demonstrate that you can meet the standards of two parts of TLIC0026:
- Element 3 (Assist passengers into and out of a taxi in a manner suited to their disability); and
- Element 4 (Drive a taxi used by passengers with disabilities).
The Department of Transport doesn’t mandate driver training requirements. Your ODBS may require you to complete specific WAV driver training to be able to drive for them.
Please direct any queries about WAV driver training to the ODBS you drive for (or intend to drive for).
| Australian Industry Standards: Unit of Competency TLIC2040 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Black and White Cabs | ||
Transporting an assistance animal
Assistance animals come in all shapes and sizes and are highly trained to meet behavioural and hygiene standards.
Under the law, passenger transport drivers in WA must not refuse to carry an assistance animal or an assistance animal in training.
Refusing to carry an assistance animal is an offence. You can be issued an infringement of $9,000 if you refuse to carry an assistance animal in your passenger transport vehicle.
Partnering with assistance animals helps many people with disability to live independently and provides a range of physical and emotional benefits. We all have a responsibility to ensure people who partner with assistance animals are supported in accessing transport that meets their needs.
For further information, visit the Australian Human Rights Commission website (below).
| Australian Human Rights Commission website | ||
|---|---|---|
Mobility scooter (gopher) safety
WAVs are only designed to transport people seated in wheelchairs.
It is not safe to carry, load or unload passengers in WAVs while they are seated on a mobility scooter (gopher).
Passengers who use a mobility scooter must transfer from their scooter before it is loaded into your vehicle. A mobility scooter cannot be used as a seat while people are being transported.
Note: this advice is based on the Australian Standard AS 2942-1994. Wheelchair Occupant Restraint Assemblies for Motor Vehicles.
Visit Wheelchair accessible vehicles for more information about WAV standards and modifications.
Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Modification Grant
The Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV) Modification Grant provides grants of up to $20,000 to assist with the cost of purchasing and installing wheelchair hoist and restraint systems in wheelchair accessible on-demand rank or hail (taxi) vehicles.
Read more about the WAV Modification Grant.
Regional Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Taxi Service Grant Scheme
To encourage and support the provision of wheelchair accessible taxi services in regional Western Australia, the Department of Transport (DoT) administers the Regional Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV) Taxi Service Grant. This grant aims to ensure that regional wheelchair accessible vehicle taxi services can be accessed where sufficient demand exists.
The Regional WAV Taxi Service Grant offers funding support to regional operators to:
- establish a WAV taxi service where none exist (up to $80,000); or
- replace a WAV or purchase an additional vehicle where demand cannot be met by an existing service (up to $60,000); or
- modify a suitable vehicle to transport passengers who must remain seated in a wheelchair where an established WAV taxi service already exists (up to $20,000).
For more information visit the Regional WAV Taxi Service Grant Scheme page.