At 7pm on Friday and Saturday night, Moree Radio Cabs taxi drivers will stop working and won’t pick anyone up until 6am the following mornings.

The stop work protest, which they don’t want to call a strike, aims to make the Moree community aware of the impact the On Demand public transport service is having on our local taxi drivers and warn people of what will happen if it continues.

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“We don’t want to call this a strike, we’re on call,” taxi driver Carl Blumfield said.

“We want to let people know that there’ll be no taxi service in Moree shortly if this keeps going.

“We want Moree people to understand that if the cabs go out of business, we have no control over it, but they have. Do they want a taxi service? The [On Demand] bus doesn’t take people to work at 4am or pick up people’s kids drunk at 3am. We can’t survive just working Friday and Saturday nights.”

The On Demand service, which is operated by local bus company Reynolds and Fogarty, is currently being trialled in Moree.

The service is a variation of the town’s regular bus run which Reynolds and Fogarty were contracted to do by Transport for NSW.

The idea is that people can book a bus via phone or text to pick them up from home or a convenient location within the town perimeters, and take them to a local transport hub or point of interest. The service runs from 7am to 7pm, seven days a week, with a standard fare costing $3.

Mr Blumfield and fellow taxi driver Paul Raveneau claim that their business has been significantly reduced since the On Demand trial was launched in November last year.

“The [On Demand] bus has taken away that much work,” Mr Raveneau said.

“I’m earning less than $10 an hour.

“On Monday I worked for nine hours and I cleared $48 for those nine hours. I’ve got expenses to come out of that – tax and GST – so basically I worked nine hours for nothing.

"My wages were cut in half as a result of the drought before this arrived, and now they've dropped another 25 per cent."

Mr Blumfield and Mr Raveneau said taxi drivers can't compete against the On Demand bus, which they claim is basically another taxi service.

"The town is not big enough for this service to be here," Mr Blumfield said.

"We can't compete against it. If we do get a call from over at the railway we go over there and [Reynolds and Fogarty have] got them in the bus before we get there."

Mr Raveneau's registration runs out in April, while Mr Blumfield's expires in June and both men have said they won't renew their registrations if the On Demand service continues. And if just a few of the 10 taxis in Moree quit, they believe it would be too difficult to continue to run a taxi service in Moree, as the less taxis there are, the more each driver has to pay for the call centre and the more hours they have to do.

"We've got people in their 80s driving - they're not going to keep driving for $10 an hour," Mr Blumfield said.

"If we have a $10 fare, we've got to pay a $1.10 levy, then 18 per cent tax, then running costs - fuel, the call centre. Just in the call centre, insurance and registration, it costs $1,000 a month and that's not including the costs of fuel or wear and tear.

"Think whether to keep 15 people employed in Moree."

“We’re not blaming the public for using it, we’re not even blaming Reynolds and Fogarty, it's the politicians who've done it," Mr Raveneau added.

The biggest issue Mr Raveneau and Mr Blumfield have is the fact that they weren't consulted about the On Demand service, or given the opportunity to put in for tender.

After raising their concerns with Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall, Mr Marshall has made representations to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, requesting that the On Demand trial be ceased temporarily to allow Moree Radio Cabs the opportunity to put forward a tender.

"When NSW Transport put the Point to Point tender out and called for Expressions of Interest, they advised all existing bus operators, as well as taxi operators and community transport operators," Mr Marshall said.

"They advised the NSW Taxi Council, however Moree taxis are not members of the NSW Taxi Council. Because of that, they were completely unaware there was an Expression of Interest and if they knew about it, they would have put in for it.

"If the taxi operators put in an Expression of Interest and so did the current operators, and Reynolds and Fogarty won, that's a fair fight. But the taxi operators didn't get a chance because they didn't know one was being called.

"I'm asking for the trial to be ceased and a fresh Expression of Interest called so they can put one in and the current operator can as well. At least it's a fair fight then."

Mr Marshall said the matter is currently being considered by the minister.

In the meantime, he said he's disappointed to hear that the taxis are boycotting this Friday and Saturday night, especially considering Saturday is Moree Rugby Union Club's 60^th reunion.

"It's disappointing but it's a matter for them to work out. They're business people and, like anyone else, they're free to choose the hours they work and don't work," he said.

"It has left the rugby club in an awkward position. Between the club and the efforts I'm making, we'll come to a resolution so patrons can get to and from that function safely. It's just unfortunate that the taxis will be missing out on all these fares, particularly at this large event."

Mr Blumfield and Mr Raveneau encourage the community to get behind them if they would like the taxi service to continue. They ask that people write to Mr Marshall and the Transport Minister Andrew Constance expressing their support for taxis.

The Moree Champion contacted bus operator Reynolds and Fogarty for a response, however they were unable to comment under their contract with Transport for NSW. 

A Transport for NSW spokesperson said the expressions of interest process for the Moree On Demand pilot was public and done in accordance with Transport for NSW’s procurement policies and principles.

"The proponent of the Moree On Demand pilot was selected after a public expression of interest process that was open to all industry," the spokesperson said.

"The initial term of the pilot will be six months.  Transport for NSW has the option to extend each pilot in six month increments up to a maximum of 24 months."