Australian motoring groups continue calls for Uber legalization despite taxi industry protests

Queensland's peak motoring body has joined in the calls for ride-sharing service Uber to be regulated in Australia despite the increased campaign against the popular service by the local taxi industry.

RACQ executive general manager for advocacy Paul Turner on Thursday said the Queensland government, which is currently undertaking a review into the state's taxi industry, should stop driving ride-sharing services such as Uber underground.

"Making companies like Uber illegal obviously isn't working," Turner said.

"Queenslanders are voting with their wallet and using them anyway, so we need to make sure they can do so safely, within the framework of the law."

RACQ's calls echoed that of Australia's peak motoring lobby who said the service should be legalized while making Australia's taxi industry more competitive.

"The reality that we face today is that Uber is popular and here to stay," National Roads and Motoring Association (NRMA) president Kyle Loades said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The challenge we now face is ensuring that there is a place for the taxi industry. We cannot repeat overseas mistakes and allow the industry to fail because it will cause significant transport problems for the community, as we know Uber isn't big enough to fill the gap."

On Wednesday it was revealed the Australian Capital Territory ( ACT) has implemented stringent regulations on Uber when it enters the market in October while making changes to the jurisdiction's taxi regulations to increase competition.

Uber drivers in the ACT must undergo stringent background, drug and alcohol checks while paying a relatively small accreditation - 600 Australian dollars - and application - 50 Australian dollars - fees.

Taxis on the other hand will see their license fees half from 20,000 to 10,000 Australian dollars from October and be further reduced to 5,000 Australian dollars a year later.

The Australian Taxi Industry Association however is outraged by the ACT's moves, accusing the Australian territory of wanting " become popular off the back of Uber", rather than creating regulations that evened the playing field.

"We're very disappointed with the decision by the ACT government. They haven't really through many of the issues," ATIA chief executive Blair Davies told Fairfax Media on Thursday.

"It walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. It's a taxi service."

Davies argues the same rules should apply across the board and the ACT's new taxi regulations won't result in lower fares.

"Overseas, where the taxi industry has been deregulated fares have gone up ... when there is an oversupply of taxis and substitute services like UberX, this introduces inefficiencies to the system and that has to be factored into the price people pay," Davies said.

David Rohrsheim, general manager of Uber's Australia and New Zealand operations welcomed ACT's decision and was confident Australia's other jurisdictions would come to the same conclusions.

"The taxi industry is running an almighty fear campaign and they're pretty noisy," Rohrsheim said.

"But there are more than 50 jurisdictions all around the world now where regulations have all been put in place (to legalize Uber) and nothing has fallen apart." Endi