State of the industry

On-demand transport in WA: passenger research insights

In September 2023, Painted Dog Research conducted research for the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure (DTMI), to measure:

• how people use on-demand transport in WA; and 
• how they feel about it.

Understanding more about passenger behaviour and sentiment will:

• help DTMI when we develop future regulations, as well as informing our communications and educational messaging; and
• support industry to provide services in line with customer wants and expectations.

Methodology

Over 1,000 people in the Perth metropolitan area and almost 350 regional residents completed a survey. After this, small focus groups were conducted to further explore the survey findings.

Note: In this research, on-demand transport was defined as including:

• any conventional taxi;
• a wheelchair accessible taxi;
• any rideshare service;
• a charter vehicle service (for example, private airport transfers);
• any limousine service;
• any charter bus service (for example, school excursions, mining company transport); and
• any party bus.

Key findings

• In the last 12 months:
  • 71% of Perth metropolitan residents have used on-demand transport; and
  • 50% of regional residents have used on-demand transport.
• 1 in 2 people use on-demand transport to get to or from bars, restaurants or social outings.
• According to passengers, the three most important things for providers to get right are reliability, pricing and driver skills. 
• At least 8 in 10 passengers are satisfied with their most recent on-demand transport experience.
• Passengers think the best thing about on-demand transport is convenience, while cancelled trips are the worst.
• Safety is very important to passengers. Their most important safety features are:
  • police checks for drivers;
  • GPS tracking for their trips; and
  • camera surveillance in the vehicle.