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What is this prestige requirement for hire cars?

That sounds unlikely, just because some current hire cars may be a bit flash – like Silver Service cabs (which just a regular cab plate) – it doesn’t mean it is a requirement of the plate regulation.

Those stretch Hummers are not exactly prestige – hysterical yes!

Drop the price of the Hire Plates to something that reflects the basic cost of regulation and refund to any plate holders any amounts they actually paid to the government for a higher Hire Car Plate fee.

As far as I know there is nothing stopping Uber-X using the Hire Car Plates and that is what Samuels down in Victoria was telling them to do.

Sure the price of the Hire Car plate $30K approx is too high but Uber would have been on better ground whinging about the fee than the idea that they should be allowed to operate completely unregulated.

Of course it is debateable whether any sort of regulation is required but from a political point of view the first phase would be to keep the Hire Car regime and lower the plate costs.

If having any regulation proves unnecessary they can drop that requirement in due course.

As for taxis the only people who should be compensated are those that actually paid a fee to the government to acquire the plate and then the refund should be the amount that was paid for the plate plus interest at the usual rate used for such situations.

Paying a price above the fee paid to the government for a plate when the government always had the power to increase supply or reduce the price asked was always a risk.

Some risks taken do not pay off.

Footnote:

I invoke my personal charter from heaven to the extent required by the above comment. If a majority agrees with me it becomes holy writ.