Cab fare rises at Sydney Airport
Macquarie Bank owned Sydney Airport has increased the fee for taxis at the airport by an extra 50 cents per taxi from next month, a move expected to reap the cash rich bank an extra $1.5 million a year.
The airport announced yesterday it would increase its ground transport access fee for taxis to $2.50 on July 1, the fee being automatically passed on to passengers.
Airport spokesman Michael Samaras,”It’s the first increase since 2004,” adding that that the $2 fee has led to improvements for drivers, such as a larger taxi holding area, taxi rank supervisors, chilled water dispensers and a meeting room and that these improvements would have continuing costs for maintenance and staffing.
The President of the Taxi Drivers Association, Michael Jools has called the increase a “Macquarie rip-off”, adding, “Nobody is getting anything out of it,” except presumabley Macquare estimating that 10,000 taxis used the airport every day.
Sydney Airport says that the figure is 8000 taxis, but this still means an additional $7.3 million each year from the new surcharge, which appears to rather a lot of maintenance and staffing, suggesting that the funds are goings elsewhere, perhaps into Macquarie’s swelling coffers.
This does not include the $10.50 levied on coaches from July 1, $3 for hire cars and $3.50 for mini-buses.
Mr Jools said that while the toll had led to the introduction of cold water dispensers and a prayer room for drivers, there were no shelters and inadequate message boards for them.
In the three months to March 31 it is estimated that the airport made $23 million from car park charges alone.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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