66BMultiple hirers

66B Multiple hirers

[Section 66B Inserted by No. 28 of 2020, s. 45, Applied:30 Dec 2020]

(1)  For the purposes of this section, 2 or more persons are hiring a vehicle under separate hiring arrangements if the persons are not relatives, friends, or associates, hiring the vehicle as companions.

(2)  A person operating a taxi service by means of a vehicle may provide the taxi service, under 2 or more separate hiring arrangements, to 2 or more persons, (the hirers) who are each proposing to travel in the vehicle to different destinations, if –

(a) all the hirers under each separate hiring arrangement agree to the provision of the taxi service to all the hirers under another separate hiring arrangement; and

(b) the hirers are travelling to –

(i) destinations in the same locality; or

(ii) destinations that are located in the same general direction from the point from which the taxi service is to be provided to the hirers; and

(c) each hirer is not required to pay more than 75% of the fare indicated on the taxi meter when the hirer reaches the point at which the hirer is to cease to use the taxi service; and

(d) each of the hirers is advised, before the taxi service begins to be provided, of the percentage of the fare that the hirer will be required to pay under paragraph (c) ; and

(e) the taxi service is not being provided in accordance with a timetable for the provision of the service.

(3)  A person operating a taxi service by means of a vehicle must not provide the service to 2 or more persons under separate hiring arrangements, except if the person operating the service provides the service in accordance with the requirements of subsection (2) .

Penalty:  Fine not exceeding 20 penalty units.