CPVV, Uber and MPTP Program

The Victorian Government expanded the Multi Purpose Taxi Program (MPTP) to include overseas entity Uber, after a so-called successful trial by Commercial Passenger Vehicles Victoria (CPVV) and Uber in Geelong. In this trial, taken place between 5th of March to 31st of May 2020, CPVV and Uber facilitated 174 rides and received a 5.0 satisfaction rating from passengers.

What we didn’t know until after the announcement of the trial’s ‘success’, is that the amount of local MPTP members (passengers) who participated in the trial was next to none. CPVV failed to mention that out of 500 members who were invited to participate – with 100 positions ready to be filled – only 4 agreed to take part in it.
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CPVV concluded that Uber would be fit to undertake MPTP work – but on what grounds? On the grounds of 4 participants?

On 2nd of March 2021, Rod Barton MP requested documents from CPVV under the Freedom of Information (FOI) act, pertaining to the MPTP trial.

Barton believes a trial with only 4 people being labelled as successful is simply ridiculous, and argues that in the same period the trial occurred, Geelong Taxis made thousands of MPTP trips, which illustrates just how small the trial was in comparison.

The MPTP supports the needs of people with severe and permanent disabilities, who are among the most vulnerable in our community, by providing them subsidised trips to get them from A to B in their day to day.

The program has more than 220,000 members across Victoria and more than 5 million trips were taken by Victorian members in 2018-2019.

It is not mandatory for Uber to have cameras in their vehicles – which is a frightening concept when you think of our most vulnerable citizens riding in their vehicles. How can we protect them? And most importantly, how can their safety rights be protected?

Barton asked CPVV for the documents related to the trial to ascertain the reasoning behind the decision to give Uber the opportunity to provide MPTP service. Out of the total 464 pages Barton received in his FOI request, 268 were entirely redacted – almost 60%.
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This makes us question the reliability of CPVV and makes us wonder what it’s got to hide. Barton has further pushed for the redacted pages to be released. Let’s see if CPVV obliges!

More news in our June 2021 Issue here.