Disgruntled locals are calling for more transport options than just taxis

According to customers who reached out to The Area News, some calls to book taxis resulted in vehicles not turning up or bookings not being forwarded through to taxi drivers.

Others said bookings with requests for wheelchair accessible taxis were being "ignored completely".

Griffith resident Monica Beckman and her husband recently came to the aid of a university student who was flying home to Sydney on an early morning flight from Griffith Regional Airport after a placement at Griffith Base Hospital.

The student had booked a taxi which had failed to arrive when scheduled, Mrs Beckham stepping in to drive her to the airport for her flight.

"She was very distraught, the taxi never arrived and she was (upset) at the thought of missing her flight and knocked on our door for assistance," Mrs Beckham said.

"The state of this girl just broke my heart."

After visiting the taxi rank in town and speaking a driver who confirmed he had received no booking, Mrs Beckham called the central booking office on Wakaden Street.

"A staff member confirmed that the booking had been successfully placed but offered no reason for why the taxi never arrived or why the booking wasn't sent to a driver who had been waiting around all morning for a job," Mrs Beckham said.

"It seems that when bookings are being made they are going to outer space and not actually being given to drivers. Why make a booking if they can't honour it?

"They shouldn't confirm bookings, bookings that people rely on without confirming a driver will be there at the time and location requested."

READ MORE

Another resident, Valerie O'Meara said after booking a wheelchair accessible taxi to take an elderly relative to a medical appointment recently, she was left waiting for almost an hour past the pick up time for one to become available.

"They took my booking without informing me that all the wheelchair taxis are pre-booked at that time for school runs. If I had known this, I would have been able to deal with it, however we were left waiting," Mrs O'Meara said.

Duane Eade noted that the 'system is obviously flawed' with others calling on newly elected Mayor Doug Curran and Member for Murray Helen Dalton to review and improve taxi operations in Griffith.

Councillor Curran said it was disappointing to hear that community members were upset about the lack of reliable transport available in Griffith, suggesting the introduction of ridesharing services such as Uber as a potential solution.

"Absolutely there is a need to introduce Uber to provide healthy competition," Councillor Curran said.

"The community needs safe reliable transport if that means we need to look at alternatives to our taxi services then we need to do that.

"I have no idea why Uber has not yet been made available in Griffith, our population size is large enough to support the service."

Sally Blair from Griffith Taxis said that at peak times she acknowledged that customers may experience a wait longer than usual and took feedback seriously.

"Griffith Taxis strives to ensure that exceptional customer service is shown to each of our customers," Mrs Blair said.

She noted that the company would be happy to investigate and rectify any complaints.

"Unfortunately, in these instance we have not been given the opportunity to do so," Mrs Blair said.

"We would be happy to investigate any of these complaints to ensure that we are providing the best service possible."

Mrs Blair also noted that taxi services were far safer and more reliable than rideshare services.

"Taxi services are the only transport service that will provide transport services 24 hours seven days per week for passengers," Mrs Blair said.

"The service offered by Taxis differ in ways such as security and training."

Griffith Taxis can be contacted on 6964 3113 during business hours if you would like to give feedback.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: