Frustrated Wagga residents have again complained of ‘extreme’ taxi delays and called for Uber to come to town.
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A Wagga man, who asked not to be named, said he rang for a taxi from a friend’s house several times before 11pm before he walked to a hotel on Fitzmaurice Street.
“A couple of hours later I called again for a lift home and was told there were 92 people ahead of me in the queue,” he said.
“I walked down to a taxi rank instead and within 10 minutes I was picked up.”
The man said he thought ride-sharing service Uber, which allows regular people to act as de facto taxis, would do well in Wagga.
“I have a fair few mates who you can call and get a lift from already, there’s always dodgy operators but Uber seems to work well elsewhere,” he said. “I don’t understand why there aren’t more taxis on the road.”
Wagga Taxis chairman John Collins said he understood the frustration but Friday and Saturday nights were peak times for taxis right around the world.
“There’s extreme demand at 1am with the lockout and again at 3am when places close,” Mr Collins said. “We bend over backwards to do our best but this is something that’s not unique to Wagga, it happens in all large centres and cities.”
According to Mr Collins, there were only two or three hours in the entire week where demand for Wagga’s taxis exceeded supply.
“We could put an extra 10 (taxis) on but we only need them for a couple of hours,” he said.
“There were an enormous amount of Christmas parties with this being the festive season and everyone wants a car immediately. I’d just ask people to bear with us, we’re doing our best.”
An Uber spokesman said there were no plans to launch in Wagga, but the company was “closely monitoring demand for ridesharing in regional communities across NSW”.
“In other regional Australian cities, ridesharing has taken pressure off existing transport networks during times of peak demand like Friday and Saturday nights,” the spokesman said.
“A safe and reliable ride at the push of a button can help make cities better connected, easier and safer places to get around.”
Uber, which already operates in Sydney and Melbourne, can track demand by looking at the number of times the app has been opened in a particular location.