‘Can’t live my life’: Sad reason man left stranded

A disability advocate says he “can’t live his life”, as he’s left waiting hours for a wheelchair accessible taxi in NSW.

Declan Lee, who has used a wheelchair since the age of 18 due to cerebral palsy, has been advocating for more wheelchair accessible taxis (WATs) for more than a decade, attending various meetings and roundtables with the state government over the years.

Mr Lee said he was forced to miss the state’s most recent roundtable after he was unable to secure a taxi from his Bilgola home on Sydney’s Northern Beaches to Martin Place in the CBD, which he called “a little bit ironic”.

He also had to wait about three hours for a taxi home from a previous meeting with the government, while another instance left him with a hefty ambulance bill after a routine trip to the hospital for a recurring infection “turned into an emergency because (he) was waiting for so long”.

“As someone with a lived experience with disability it just means that I can’t go and participate in everyday life,” Mr Lee said.

“I can’t go into the office and work, I can’t do social things with family and friends.

“I can’t live my life.”

The 31-year-old University of NSW law student said public transport wasn’t an option given the size of his motorised wheelchair, while rideshare services typically don’t cater to wheelchairs at all.

“I used to worry about a taxi turning up late … but now it’s a case of will they turn up at all?” Mr Lee said, adding he hates the uncertainty.

“I’m feeling advocacy fatigue from all of this – it is stressful, it’s draining, I no longer get certainty whether I get a taxi or not.”

Physical Disability Council of NSW chief executive Ed Morris said the lack of accessibility to WATs reflected a “failing service”.

“A lot of the time our community is on the side of the road … missing family or work commitments because of this service that is failing,” Mr Morris said.

“It’s affecting all Australians by leaving those people behind or preventing them from participating in the economy.”

Mr Morris said the situation was “dire” in regional areas, with some areas having no WATs available at all.

He called on the NSW government to increase incentives to get more WATs on the road following asignificant decline in the number of renewals and applications for WATs over the last year across NSW.

“Only one-third of people who booked wheelchair accessible taxis through the official booking system are getting picked up,” Mr Morris said.

“The government has a responsibility to ensure that people with disabilities can access their community and get around just like everybody else.”

13CABS head of corporate affairs David Samuel said drivers “simply can’t afford to pay” to purchase and maintain WATs – as well as the required training for the service – with costs three times as expensive for drivers of other cars, including Camrys.

“It stresses our staff, we hate seeing people left behind,” Mr Samuel said.

Mr Samuel said more needed to be done, suggesting subsidies for WAT vehicles and fuel levies as a short-term solution.

“Policy needs to reflect the reality of the market … this particular market is expensive to run and consumers don’t have choice,” he said.

The state government released a key findings report in October from a series of roundtables across Sydney, Orange, Ballina and Wagga Wagga.

The report found passengers often experienced delays and uncertainty with WATs, while industry representatives said NSW operator subsidies hadn’t been kept in line with the increasing cost of providing WAT services.

The report also noted people experienced “waiting for (WATs) in unsafe places or for so long that they became unsafe”.

“This was sometimes due to the limited availability of wheelchair accessible taxis and other times due to challenges with the booking system that meant drivers had difficulty locating passengers,” the report stated.

A spokesperson for NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said $6m had been issued to assist taxi operators purchase, modify and/or retrofit vehicles for use as a compliant WAT since the Wheelchair Accessible Taxi Loan Scheme was introduced in 2016, with 22 of the interest-free loans awarded over the recent 2023/24 round.

The spokesperson also said a government response to the key findings response was expected to be released shortly.

However Mr Lee has also called for a commitment to “revitalise” WATs from both sides of government, claiming every time there’s a change in government “we start all over again”.

NSW opposition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said she’d support “any action” the government took to “provide better outcomes”.

“The current environment is not working for the members of our community who need it,” Ms Ward said.

“Clearly, it is a supply-side problem. I’d support any action that government takes to work with industry to provide better outcomes.”