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4 February 2016

Demand for point-to-point transport in Sydney is continuing to grow, with almost one in five Sydneysiders surveyed reporting that they have used ride-sharing services in 2015, compared to 11% in 2014.

The growth in ride-sharing parallels similar reported growth in the use of other point-to-point transport services, with the use of hire cars and car-sharing also increasing – 21% of Sydneysiders surveyed reported having used hire cars in the last six months compared to 18% in 2014, and 17% of Sydneysiders surveyed reported using car sharing in the last six months compared to 13% in 2014.

Lower cost is a major reason given for use of emerging car sharing and ride sharing services over taxis.

The annual Taxi Use Survey commissioned by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, has found that while around 20% of Sydneysiders report using each of the alternative forms of point-to-point transport (hire cars, ride share and car share), the use of taxis has remained largely constant, with 60% of Sydneysiders reporting they had caught a taxi in 2015, and 15% of Sydneysiders saying they did so at least once a week.

IPART Chairman, Dr Peter Boxall, said the 2015 survey shows that the proportion of people catching taxis has been largely unchanged since the survey was first conducted in 2012. Views about waiting times, fares and value for money are also similar.

“The stability of taxi use statistics over the period that we have been conducting passenger surveys, combined with the growth in use of new forms of point-to-point transport, suggests that overall demand for point-to-point services is growing,” Dr Boxall said.

“Rather than reducing the existing demand for taxis, it appears that new services are encouraging people to travel more, and/or meeting growth in demand due to population growth or increasing business or tourism activity.”

The survey found that people who use car share, ride share or hire cars are more likely to also use taxis as well than people who don’t use car share, ride share or hire cars.

The survey was undertaken in November 2015 with representative population samples in Sydney, other urban areas and country areas in NSW.

Passenger surveys are commissioned annually by IPART to provide data for its reviews of taxi fares and licence numbers. As a result of the Government’s review of point-to-point transport in late 2015, IPART will not conduct any reviews of taxi licence numbers or fares for July 2016.

Media contact: Julie Sheather 0409 514 643 or 9290 8403