The state government have introduced a new passenger transport authorisation to replace the current taxi and bus industry F and T driver's licences.
From July 2020, taxi and bus drivers who hold F and T drivers licence will have 12 months to transition to a new PTD authorisation.
People driving fare-paying passengers will need to apply for authorisation and renew it each year for a fee.
The authorisation fee of $88 will be waived for current F and T licence holders who apply for PTD authorisation in the first four months of the transition period, meaning they will only pay the initial application fee of $28.
Different criteria must be met to be granted a PTD authorisation with more stringent criminal history and ongoing medical checks increasing the overall safety of the industry. Drivers will need to renew their PTD authorisation annually.
The new criteria include a list of criminal offences that will automatically disqualify someone from becoming authorised as a passenger transport driver, in line with community expectations around safety standards.
Gannaways owner Ray Gannaway said the changes had come about from the taxi issue surrounding ride sharing and the bus and charter industry were being forced into the changes.
Mr Gannaway said representatives from the Department of Transport met with him a year ago to try and convince him this was the right thing for the bus and coach industry.
He said the changes made sense for ride sharing because people did not know who the driver was when they got into a car.
"My biggest beef from an industry perspective is that the government is top loading a workforce which is casual and implementing so called safety standards," he said.
"They are talking about cameras in taxis - every bit of this change relates to taxis, Uber or Ola - but we pay the price.
"I dare say the Transport Minister has not travelled into the country to understand how the charter or tour industry works, she won't even talk to the chairman of Bus WA, he can't even get an interview."
Mr Gannaway said the changes were related to the taxi buy-back scheme and the bus and charter industry were being hooked into the taxi industry which was not tied to them in anyway.
"The fact is these changes just add an administrative burden and cost to the employer, the employee and adds a significant cost to the year," he said.
"It defies logic as to why the taxi buy-back scheme, that was brought about by Uber and Ola, has impacted on large number passenger transport.
"$28 to apply for what I was already doing legally is another half-a-million dollars a year and we all know that every fee will be consumer price indexed so it will be a creeping cost.
"They also want to nab us on a police clearance, all of our team have a working with children check, it is a duplication of services for bits of paper, administration and cost.
"Why we are being beaten up in this I am not sure.
"WA is the dearest place in Australia to visit. Why are we talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of cost impost onto an industry that suffers from isolation in the first place.
"Why are we doing this to the bus charter and tourism?
"The state government will do a lot of damage if they continue with this sort of stuff, they have failed to realise WA is the most expensive state in Australia.
"This is about the ride sharing driver."
Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the new PTD authorisation set a higher standard for safety and provided clarity around who was considered suitable to drive passengers for hire or reward.
Ms Saffioti said the Transport (Road Passenger Services) Act 2018 provided clear direction as to what constituted 'fit and proper character' by including disqualification offences and periods of time a person would not be eligible for a PTD authorisation after being convicted of serious criminal, drugs, weapons and safety offences.
"The annual PTD authorisation fee will also go towards covering the cost of ongoing safety monitoring the Department of Transport conducts to ensure the suitability of drivers, a cost which was previously met by the taxpayer," she said.
"The same requirements will apply to all drivers in the passenger transport industry, regardless of type of service being provided.
"The DOT has been engaging with industry throughout the on-demand transport reform process.
"Replacing the F and T extension with a single PTD authorisation has been proposed as part of the reform since mid-2017 and unification of the occupational driver licensing was mooted in the consultation On-demand Transport Reform Green Paper as early as 2015."
Vasse MLA Libby Mettam said the issue was not the requirement for a police clearance, but the other additional costs associated with this reform, which has added costly red tape to small businesses, despite promising the opposite.
