Transport Alliance Australia Report

Your NATIONAL association looking after the interests of all in the Australian commercial passenger transport sector.

“A tale of two cities” … not London and Paris, as Dickens wrote in 1859 but Melbourne and Sydney (or anywhere else in Australia) in August 2020.

In Melbourne, streets are empty as on-the-whole Melburnians abide by Premier Andrews' Stage 4 lockdown including a total curfew between 8pm and 5am every day. The footage of our freeways, the lifeblood of our city, totally empty defies belief - a most surreal experience.

Unsurprisingly, this causes a huge impact on every business in every sector, not the least our sector of commercial passenger transport. With people under curfew and lockdown there is almost no reason for our businesses to be open, to provide service.

The DHHS advises that "Public transport, ride/share and taxis are available but only to support access to permitted services and provide transport for permitted workers."

The CPVV has advised that it is NOT the responsibility of drivers to ensure that the passengers have a legitimate reason / purpose to travel BUT we strongly advise that before you accept a ride you ensure that the passengers do have this paperwork. You do not need the hassle that the Police will put you through. (As an aside, my son is an essential worker delivering pharmaceutical goods. He is stopped daily, and sometimes more than once a day. In each case, he produces his paperwork and is thanked for doing the right thing). At the time of writing there are no restrictions on providing a service to the public.

On the other hand, in Sydney, aside from a few shops requesting clients wear masks, you cannot tell that there is a pandemic happening in Australia. Streets are still busy, public areas have lots of people in them, shopping centres are full and the roads are still crazy.

We know that times are tough out there - where we can we will help - just reach out and ask us. Class Action vs Uber

Uber has lost a bid to have our class action against it thrown out of court. The case that Maurice Blackburn Lawyers has brought against it alleges UberX is “unlawful” and has not been operating under the regulations, accreditation procedures and licence fees that apply to taxi drivers.

Uber had argued in the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal that a class action could not be brought against it in Victoria because it was an international company.

But Justices Richard Niall, Kim Hargrave and Karin Emerton on July 22, 2020 rejected its bid to have the case thrown out.

Uber claimed there were five reasons the class action should be thrown out, all of which were rejected by the Court of Appeal.

Planning for the New Normal

On 27 July, 38 people joined us via Zoom for our first Operators' Forum - Planning for the New Normal.

Emma from Shoestring Marketing gave us some handy tips to start using LinkedIn to its max. The primary thing to remember

about LinkedIn is that this platform is for professional people, therefore you don't talk about personal stuff. You must keep your profile updated and post at least once a week something of interest.

Next up was Matt from Melbourne Airport. He advised that Melbourne Airport is a totally contactless, cashless environment and also has a COVID-19 Testing facility on site. As there are very few travellers at Melbourne Airport nowadays, there are only 2 out of 13 carparks which are operational and the airport has taken this opportunity to install updated signage and new markers at all Ranks.

Alex from PwC Airtax gave us an overview of the taxation issues surrounding JobKeeper, BAS and Tax Returns. Basically, on your BAS you do not report JobKeeper, JobSeeker or early Superannuation withdrawal.

However you are required to report JobKeeper and JobSeeker in your tax return - but again not early Superannuation withdrawals.

Alex also reminded us that the following common deductions are still applicable to claim against your financial year income:• car purchases & running costs • industry fees/charges • licences and checks • clothing • equipment and consumables • working from home expenses (80c/hour shortcut method) • mobile phone bills • tax agent fees Our keynote speaker for this forum was Bill Faeth.

Bill doesn't believe in work-life balance when you're a business owner with aggressive goals, but he does think you can prioritise and manage both successfully. He believes that you must have results in your business and your personal life, because without both, why are you in business? Bill has owned and operated a limousine hire car business in the USA and had some very interesting insights to share with us.

Now more than ever before, we need to keep in touch with our clients. He recommended that we all call our top 20 clients tomorrow - touch base with them and see how they are faring during this pandemic. But don't talk about work or jobs - make this a personal check in call. Ask if there is anything you can do to help. You could even offer to do something specific for them.

Another hint he shared with us is that we should be looking at what we can do to prepare our businesses for reopening to the public. How we should make our reopen signage and marketing about our customers, not about our business.

Bill believes that leisure activities will be one of the first things to reopen and he suggested that you get in contact with your local leisure outlets and tell them how good your service is - give them some pamphlets so that they remember your business when they reopen.

And another very good reminder is the fact that many people have had to place their elective surgery on hold during COVID-19 pandemic. He suggested that taxi and hire car businesses should contact specialised elective surgery centres in departments such as laser surgery, plastic surgery, orthopaedic, orthodontic, major hospitals' elective surgery, etc.

He suggested that you tell these business about your service, how you are the best in town, how your cars and drivers are the cleanest and best available in their area.

Perhaps you could even strike a deal with them for your passenger business to be their first contact when one of their passengers requires transportation to their premises.

Take care and stay safe.

André Baruch Director, Transport Alliance Australia

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you can view the recording in the Transport Alliance Australia's website Members' Portal.