A new industry. A new approach to regulation

From 2 July 2018 we became Commercial Passenger Vehicles Victoria.

With new technologies entering the market, we are adapting our approach. To achieve this, we will continue to work in partnership with you, to ensure services you provide for your customers are safe and more accessible.

We encourage innovation and improvements to create better services for your customers, while ensuring a safe and fair system for all. We will place an emphasis on engagement and prevention before enforcement.

We will empower you to take responsibility for your services and, when necessary, we won’t hesitate to take direct action to enforce the law. We believe safety and trust go hand in hand: when the public feels safe, this builds trust in the industry.

We have detailed some information below on the changes introduced on 1 July 2018 that are helping to shape a better industry.

What’s changed?

Topic	Up to 30 June 2018	From 1 July 2018
Commercial passenger vehicle licences	Currently licensed as either taxis or hire cars and must operate in the zone they nominated (where applicable).	Licensing will be replaced with a simple vehicle registration system. Existing vehicles licensed with us will automatically be moved to our new registration system. Taxis will be re-classified as commercial passenger vehicles that provide booked and unbooked services. Hire cars will be re-classified as commercial passenger vehicles that provide booked services only. Booked services are trips booked over via an application, or over the phone or website. Unbooked services are trips hailed from the street, hired from a recognised taxi rank or trips that have not been booked via an application, over the phone or website. All commercial passenger vehicles can operate across Victoria.
Fare deregulation	Taxi fares are currently regulated in the metropolitan, urban and large regional zones. Taxi fares are not currently regulated in country and regional zones. Hire car fares are currently unregulated throughout Victoria. Country and regional operators are required to price notify if they want to set their own fares.	All booked commercial passenger vehicle fares will be unregulated, and the maximum fare rates won’t apply. Unbooked commercial passenger vehicles fare rates will continue to be unregulated in the country and regional zones, and a maximum fare rate won’t apply. Price notification will no longer be required for country and regional operators. Unbooked commercial passenger vehicles fare rates will be regulated in the metropolitan, urban and large regional zones. This means the Essential Services Commission will set a maximum fare rate.
Booking Service Provider (BSP) Accreditation to Registration	Large BSPs are required to be accredited.	All BSPs will be required to obtain BSP Registration, with the exception of BSPs who only accept bookings for commercial passenger vehicles registered in their name and have no more than two commercial passenger vehicles. Existing accredited BSPs will be automatically converted to the registration system.
Removal of Operator Accreditation Scheme	Taxi licence holders must also be accredited operators.	Operator accreditation is ceasing and will no longer be required. Relevant obligations will shift to the vehicle owner.
Changes to Driver Accreditation	Driver accreditation is issued for a period 1 or 3 years and is required to be renewed.	Driver accreditation will be ongoing, with an initial application fee and an annual fee payable (see Fees and charges). Medical assessments will be required every three years. Drivers who have a conditional accreditation will be required to provide annual medical assessments.
Changes to the Regulations	Industry participants must comply with the Transport (Buses, Taxi-Cabs and Other Commercial Passenger Vehicles) (Taxi-Cab Industry Accreditation and Other Matters) Regulations 2017	New regulations came into effect in July 2018.
Levy		If a trip is booked, the business taking the booking must pay the $1 per trip levy. If a trip starts at a taxi rank, or when a vehicle is hailed by a passenger, the driver must pay the $1 per trip levy, unless they are employed by the owner of the vehicle. In this case the owner is liable. More information is available of the State Revenue Office's website.

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A new industry. A new approach to regulation