South Australia has become the latest Australian state to legalise ride sharing but Uber may not be set to enter the Adelaide market.
Changes to legislation will see taxi plate holders given a $30, 000 one-off payment and a freeze on the release of new taxi licenses for at least five years as ride-sharing becomes legal from July 1, Premier Jay Weatherill announced this week.
“As only the third Australian jurisdiction to legalise ridesharing, we are sending a message that South Australia is open for business,” Weatherill said.
However, it remains to be seen if Uber will make the jump to the state as the general manager of the South Australian branch of the business, Tom White, told the
ABC the business is still not committed to the market.
"We're approaching today's announcement with caution,” White said.
“We're not yet in a position to commit to launching UberX, however it is something we would love to do.”
Uber Black, the limousine service of the company, is currently the only ride-sharing service in operation in the state and White noted that the example set by New South Wales and the ACT should be followed.
"We welcome their recognition today that the market needs reform and that the benefits of ride-sharing need to be introduced to Adelaide. It's reliant on the right regulatory environment being in place,” White continued.
"Let's look to New South Wales and the ACT. The governments in those jurisdictions have seen fit to introduce lean, sensible regulations that we think are a model for other governments to look towards. If we replicated something like that in Adelaide I think that would be a good outcome for everyone."
The ACT was the first
Australian jurisdiction to legalise ride-sharing in October last year and was closely
followed by New South Wales in December.
