The Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure (DTMI) will make Passenger Transport Subsidy Scheme (PTSS) payments to on-demand booking services (ODBSs), on behalf of drivers.
ODBSs are responsible for paying their drivers the correct amount.
About PTSS payments
PTSS journey details will be submitted to DTMI via:
- the PTSS mobile app; or
- dispatch equipment that your ODBS has integrated with DTMI systems, to automatically capture journey details.
DTMI will validate all PTSS journeys and pay the subsidy and any co-payment amounts to the ODBS associated with the journey. PTSS payments will be deposited in the bank account nominated by your ODBS.
Note: Journeys that fail validation checks may need manual review by DTMI staff. Visit Journey validation rules for more information.
Your ODBS will be able to view reports in DoTDirect that outline:
- the PTSS journeys included in the payment;
- the value of the subsidy for each PTSS journey; and
- the driver that completed that journey.
ODBSs must pay the correct amounts to their drivers. ODBSs and drivers will need to consider any financial arrangements regarding passing on subsidy payments.
Note: These are private commercial arrangements that DTMI is unable to be involved with.
ODBSs are responsible for regularly:
- reconciling the financial payments provided by DTMI and the subsidies provided to passengers for the bookings the ODBS has taken or facilitated; and
- reporting any discrepancies or issues to DTMI as soon as possible.
Register for PTSS
All authorised ODBSs who provide taxi services are required to register for PTSS via DoTDirect. This enables DTMI to make PTSS payments to the ODBS, on behalf of their drivers.
During registration, you will need to nominate a bank account for DTMI to deposit PTSS payments on behalf of your ODBS's drivers.
Ensure you enter the correct name associated with your bank account, for example "J Citizen", "John Citizen" or "J Citizen Pty Ltd". Account names like "Savings" or "Personal" may be rejected and lead to payment delays.
Once your ODBS has registered for PTSS, you will receive monthly emails requesting that you submit booking records for PTSS journeys that occurred in the previous month.
Visit PTSS responsibilities for ODBSs for more information about how to register for PTSS.
Understanding DoTDirect payment dashboards
ODBSs can view reports in DoTDirect that outline:
- the PTSS journeys included in the payment;
- the value of the subsidy for each PTSS journey; and
- the driver that completed that journey.
What is an adjustment?
If the PTSS journey data provided by the ODBS does not match the PTSS journey details recorded by the PTSS mobile app or application programming interface (API), DTMI may adjust subsequent PTSS payments to ODBSs.
A “credit adjustment” is applied when an additional subsidy amount is credited to the ODBS. A “debit adjustment” is applied when DTMI deducts all or part of a subsidy payment to an ODBS.
Payment reports, including details of any adjustments, are available to view via your ODBS’s DoTDirect account.
Request to edit, adjust or review a PTSS journey
If an ODBS becomes aware of an error with a PTSS journey, the ODBS can submit a request via DoTDirect for DTMI to:
- adjust a PTSS journey that has already been paid;
- review a PTSS journey that has been rejected; or
- change the details of a PTSS journey, including booking reference number, vehicle or total fare amount.
The request will be reviewed by DTMI staff. ODBSs can view the request’s status in DoTDirect.
See the Passenger Transport Subsidy Scheme user guide for on-demand booking services below for how to request to edit a PTSS journey
How to manually upload PTSS journey details
Details of PTSS journeys will be automatically submitted to DTMI via the PTSS mobile app and API, to support ODBSs to provide timely and accurate payments to drivers.
If the app and API are unavailable (for example, during a planned DTMI system outage), ODBSs can manually upload a .csv file containing their driver’s PTSS journey details, via DoTDirect. See ‘Using DTMI’s .csv template’ below for more information.
Any details not captured by the ODBS’s dispatch equipment must be manually recorded and provided by drivers (for example, the PTSS card number, expiry and subsidy amount). ODBSs should discuss these requirements with their drivers, to ensure details are captured correctly.
Note: ODBSs may only use the manual upload function due to app or API unavailability. It must not be used:
- as the primary method for submitting PTSS journey details; or
- to correct mistakes made in the app (for example, if a driver enters incorrect details).
Manually uploading in these situations may cause further validation issues, delaying payments.
If a driver has made a mistake in the app, ODBSs can request a change to PTSS journey details. See ‘Request to edit, adjust or review a PTSS journey’ above for more information.
Note: PTSS journeys can only be entered manually for travel that has occurred within the last 30 days.
How to use the .csv template
PTSS journey details must be uploaded using the .csv file template below. Uploads must:
- be in the required .csv template;
- be no larger than 10MB; and
- contain no more than 500 journeys per file.
Note: If you are manually uploading journeys for multiple drivers, DTMI recommends each drivers' journeys are uploaded using separate .csv files.
Refer to the ‘Passenger Transport Subsidy Scheme user guide for on-demand booking services’ for more information about manually submitting PTSS journey details.
Column names and descriptions
The columns in your .csv file can be in any order, but the column names must match the template. You must not delete any column names. See below for an overview of the columns and their descriptions.
| Column name | Description |
|---|---|
|
JOURNEY ID |
The identification/booking reference number allocated to the journey by the ODBS. |
|
PTD AUTH NUMBER |
The PTD authorisation number of the driver. |
|
PTV PLATE |
The licence plate of the vehicle. |
|
PARTICIPANT CARD NUMBER |
The card number from the PTSS participant's card. |
|
PARTICIPANT CARD EXPIRY DATE |
The expiry date from the PTSS participant's card. |
|
PICK UP DATETIME |
The date and time when the journey commenced. |
|
PICK UP STREET |
If a physical address is supplied, the address where the journey commenced. |
|
PICK UP SUBURB |
If a physical address is supplied, the suburb where the journey commenced. |
|
PICK UP POSTCODE |
If a physical address is supplied, the postcode of the location where the journey commenced. |
|
PICK UP LATITUDE |
If GPS coordinates are supplied, the latitude of the location where the journey commenced. |
|
PICK UP LONGITUDE |
If GPS coordinates are supplied, the longitude of the location where the journey commenced. |
|
DROP OFF DATETIME |
The date and time when the journey was completed. |
|
DROP OFF STREET |
If a physical address is supplied, the address where the journey was completed. |
|
DROP OFF SUBURB |
If a physical address is supplied, the suburb where the journey was completed. |
|
DROP OFF POSTCODE |
If a physical address is supplied, the postcode of the location where the journey was completed. |
|
DROP OFF LATITUDE |
If GPS coordinates are supplied, the latitude of the location where the journey was completed. |
|
DROP OFF LONGITUDE |
If GPS coordinates are supplied, the longitude of the location where the journey was completed. |
|
DISTANCE KMS |
The total distance, in kilometres, or part thereof, of the journey. |
|
TOTAL FARE |
The total value of the fare for the journey. |
|
PASSENGER PAYMENT AMOUNT |
The amount of the total fare that the passenger was required to pay. |
|
SUBSIDY AMOUNT |
The amount of the total fare that is being claimed under the PTSS. |
|
SUBSIDY PERCENTAGE USED |
The subsidy percentage that was used by the booking service when calculating the subsidy amount. |
|
SUBSIDY CAP APPLICABLE |
The subsidy cap that was used by the booking service when calculating the subsidy amount. |
|
WHEELCHAIR CARRIED |
An indication as to whether the participant's wheelchair was carried during the journey. This is only applicable for wheelchair participants of the scheme. Blank means N. |
|
ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANT |
Flag to indicate if this is an additional participant, Y or N, blank means N. |