dailyliberal.com.au wednesdayoctober23,2019 news fear more ... · uber when he and the nsw...

NEWSWednesdayOctober 23, 2019 DAILY LIBERAL 3dailyliberal.com.au

Rainwater tanks contain 'town water'ADUBBOwoman has told ofbeing encouraged to fill herrainwater tankwith townwa-ter before level four restric-tions begin on November 1.

Karen Cole says "peopleare hoarding water" andmore education is neededto help them understandthe impact on the environ-

ment and the community oftheir actions.

"Someone suggested tome to stick my hose in thegutter and fill up the tank,"Mrs Cole said.

"People are sticking uptheir 'tank water in use' signsand it's not tank water. It'stown water put in the tankand you could easily test it

for fluoride."The Dubbo resident,

whose family of five uses atotal of about 700 litres (L) ofwater a day, wants the com-munity to pull together toconserve water by observingwater restrictions. The perperson/ per day water usetarget for level three and fourwater restrictions is 295L and

245L, respectively.Mrs Cole is an advocate

for the monitoring of watermeters because of the "self-ish behaviour" of some resi-dents.

"I drive around town andsee gardens that are greenerthan they have ever been be-fore because people are notgetting it," she said.

Dubbo Regional Councilis "strongly" discouragingresidents connected to townwater from filling up rainwa-ter tanks with it.

"Filling up rainwater tanksinterrupts the daily data andcauses miscalculations inwhat the community is usingfor their general residentialuse," the council's chief ex-

ecutive officer Michael Mc-Mahon said.

"Council uses this data toproject the level of restrictionplaced on the community."

Under level four restric-tions the watering of resi-dential and non-residentiallawns with town water is notpermitted.

WATER CRISIS

– KIM BARTLEY

Fear more may mean less

IF RIDE-SHARE giant Uberlaunches inDubbo the chair-person of Dubbo Radio Cabsfears thenumberof transportoptions in the city might endup declining.

"We provide 24/7 servicehere inDubbo,wenever shutdown," Greg Collin said.

"I believe we'd see adecline in drivers [if Uberlaunched]. Any wage losswould see them looking forother work.

"Our biggest concernabout our competitionwould be that they wouldcherry pick, in the senseof [offering to pick up pas-sengers] just the busy timesand they'd just go home andleave us to clean up."

Mr Collin said a total of 24taxis and more than 65 driv-ers currently service Dubbo.

If those numbers declinedbecause Uber took revenuefrom taxi drivers duringbusy periods, Mr Collin saidhe feared it would meantaxi services in quietertimes - like from Monday toWednesday - would end upbeing cut back.

"They [taxi drivers]reallyrely on those busy nights,"

he said.When Uber began operat-

ing in Bathurst and Orangein December 2018 the com-pany said it had no plans tolaunch in Dubbo but com-munity members on socialmedia have called for theextra transport option to belaunched in the city.

Mr Collin commentedabout the potential impact ofUber when he and the NSWgovernment's point to pointtransport commissioner An-thony Wing visited the DailyLiberal office in Dubbo onTuesday.

Mr Wing's commissionis the regulator of the taxi,ride-share and hire vehicleindustries, and he said whilethe government had madeit easier for new players likeUber to offer more competi-tion, existing players like taxioperators were also able toexpand their services.

He was in Dubbo to talkwith local service providersabout driver and passen-ger safety.

"We're being proactivehere, we're actually gettingout to talk to people beforethere's an issue to make surethe systems are running safe-ly," commissionerWing said.

"We want people to be

confident the industry is wellrun and the safety of passen-gers and drivers is the toppriority for both the regula-tor and the industry's serviceproviders."

Mr Collin said he waspleased to see commissionerWing in Dubbo.

"Dubbo Radio Cabs wel-come the commissionerout here because it shows

that he's got an interest andwants to keep his finger onthe pulse," Mr Collin said.

"He's made it quite clearthey want to work with usand not against us.

"Our goals are their goals,to make sure we provide asafe environment and alsomost importantly for ourcustomers and other roadusers."

SAFETY FOCUS: Point to Point Transport Commissioner Anthony Wing and Greg Collin outside a taxi zone in Dubbo.Photo: BELINDA SOOLE

Driver, passengersafety a top priorityBY RYAN YOUNG

TRANSPORT

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