ABC Canberra Elite Taxi drivers have held a protest in Fyshwick to express their anger about the new booking system.Dozens of Canberra taxi drivers have held a protest to drive home their anger about a new booking system.
A convoy of taxis lined Kembla Street in Fyshwich on Tuesday as they waved placards and chanted slogans.
They are vowing to protest indefinitely against the trial that uses a global positioning system (GPS.)
The drivers work for the largest taxi fleet in the national capital, Canberra Elite Taxis, which is operated by the Aerial Capital Group.
They say that under the old dispatch system they were required to book into a zone and jobs were allocated around their location.
But under the new GPS system introduced on Monday, drivers say they are allocated jobs based on their proximity to clients rather than their position in a suburb's rank or taxi zone.
The drivers' spokesman Mohit Thakur says he has been driving Canberra taxis for 60 years.
"(We are) not happy to have a stop work because it is not getting income to our families," he said.
"It is a situation where, even if you go out, there is no work," added Mr Thakur who says he has been driving Canberra taxis for 60 years.
Mr Thakur says that taxis are waiting in the rank for more than an hour without receiving a job.
"Survival under this system is impossible," he said.
Taxi driver Masood Shahid says he made about $170 after the introduction of the GPS trial and he normally makes up to $300 per day.
"I lost half of my income yesterday, so today I decided to come here even though I am losing money," he said.
"We want to work, we don't want to create problems."
The drivers are calling for the fleet operator, the Aerial Capital Group, to urgently consult drivers.
The Canberra Taxi Alliance says the company has floated the idea of introducing a GPS dispatch system twice in recent years to increase efficiency.
Protest to continue indefinitely
The drivers are vowing not to return to work until the trial is cancelled and the former system is re-instated and are warning taxi ranks could be abandoned.
They say they are paid on commission and not hourly rates and operating a taxi is very expensive in Canberra because of the high costs of registration and petrol.
The drivers also claim Aerial Capital Group is using the new GPS system to prioritise bookings to company owned and operated taxis, rather than more than 100 individual operators and drivers.
Company to hold talks
The Aerial Capital Group has told the ABC it intends to hold talks with a small number of operators at its offices in Fyshwick.
The company says it will not be providing any further information to the media today.
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