Wannabe cabbies in Victoria who have sat the newly introduced driver knowledge test have come bottom of the class.
With an almost 100 per cent failure rate for the exam, which became compulsory on June 30, the industry has been left scratching its head as to exactly how so many novices could fail.
The test – part of the state government’s reforms for the industry – must be taken by drivers with less than five years’ experience and over a quarter of the 16,000 active cab drivers in Victoria need to sit the exam.
Those who fail two opportunities to sit the test will be refused accreditation to drive a taxi for 12 months, and with the Christmas holiday period coming up, concerns have been raised as to whether there will be enough drivers in Melbourne to cope.
The test comprises three modules; geographical knowledge, driver behaviour and a quiz on road rules and taxi regulations, and drivers must get 85 per cent of the answers correct in all three modules.
Karen Downie, a driver-trainer at 13Cabs, is the only cabbie who has passed all the modules so far.
“A lot of it was common sense but if you don’t read the question carefully it’s easy to get it wrong,” Ms Downie told reporters.
Taxi Services Commission chairman Graeme Samuel said the results show applicants were falling down on the driver behaviour module in particular.
“Some of the questions are so much common sense,” Mr Samuel said. “If you’re dealing with someone with an intellectual disability, what do you do?
People have been answering, ‘speak loudly and in a slow manner’, when the right answer is to be courteous and understand their disability.”
Mr Samuel added the test was similar to the nationally recognised Certificate II training course which drivers had to complete previously to gain accreditation, and the results prove taxi training schools were waving applicants through without proper assessment.
Speaking to Neos Kosmos, a TSC spokesman added: “What all of this shows us is something that passengers have been saying for many years, that drivers aren’t being sufficiently trained before attempting the Knowledge and this needs to happen if we are ever going to see drivers pass the Knowledge and lift the standards within the industry.”
Harry Katsiabanis, managing director of Taxi Link which runs 400 drivers in Melbourne and which has put its own driver training course on hold, believes a proper analysis of why so many new drivers are failing is crucial.
“The important thing to ask is ‘why?’,” said Mr Katsiabanis. “The latest satisfaction rating commissioned by the TSC suggests that 70 per cent of customers are satisfied with our services.
“I’m concerned we might be trying to train astronauts rather than taxi drivers.”
Mr Katsiabanis said the industry required “a better understanding of the testing environment” and that a combined approach by the TSC with the training organisations was needed to better deliver outcomes.
“We haven’t run our training courses since May because we’re unaware of what the training needs to look like.”
“If you only have one person passing out of 250 people, the alarm bells should be ringing.”
With 16 years under his belt, Melbourne owner-operator George Bobbopoulos doesn’t have to sit the test, but says new drivers must do more to ensure they meet the exam’s requirements.
“Bottom line is if they don’t do their homework they’re not going to know what to do,” says George, who runs three cabs, and believes cultural differences play a part in driver behaviour to customers.
“You’ve got to remember that there are people coming from Pakistan and India and they have their own culture.”
Mr Bobbopoulos told Neos Kosmos that he was largely in favour of the state government’s reforms of the taxi industry though “some they’ve mucked up on”.
“Generally they’re OK, I think the TSC can do a better job by better policing the bad guys. There are drivers who are still refusing short fares, and who continue to hassle women.”