Uber has warned the Government in SA that it would boycott the market because of excessive startup costs, which it claims would be around $600 more than in other jurisdictions.

However the “Omnibus” licence detailed today on the WA Government’s website for prospective Perth drivers would be $1100 – around $300 more than in SA – including an application fee, commercial medical assessment, national police clearance and convictions record. The cost also includes compulsory third party insurance and a licence fee of $272 – that will be paid annually.

Taxi drivers will be compensated $20,000 for each plate and have their fees reduced.

Mullighan told InDaily the requirements appeared “the same or similar to ours in having additional CTP, roadworthiness checks” and other regulatory requirements.

“It seems there’s a gathering national consistency about the sorts of standards drivers and their vehicles need to have,” he said.

“The costs seem on first blush to be far in excess of ours… we’ll just be waiting to see what [Uber’s] reaction is with a great deal of interest.”

Mullighan said it was “encouraging” that “states seem to be arriving at the same conclusions about standards of vehicles and drivers”.

“It reinforces the argument that this is about safety.”

Despite threatening to boycott Adelaide, Uber has since launched a free X service here, to “protest” the proposed regulations, although many potential passengers found themselves unable to find an available car last weekend, with a spate of complaints on Uber Australia’s Facebook site.

Mullighan today hinted a compromise could be reached, saying that despite the tough talk “Uber continues to engage with the Government”.

“We had another meeting [with stakeholders] this week and Uber was represented there,” he said.

“I’m happy to work through some of the issues with them… I think they make some legitimate points about [police clearance] processing times, and how we can expedite that.”

It seems unlikely Uber will take the same bullish stance in Perth, as it’s understood they have already recruited around 5000 drivers there since they entered the jurisdiction in October 2014. They also see it as a more lucrative market.

Nonetheless, Tom White, who manages Uber in both SA and WA, slammed the licence fee as “costing hundreds of dollars that delivers no new safety benefits to the community”.

“We will review the detail of the [WA] Government’s proposal, however, as we understand it, the current proposal will see WA continue to be one of the most expensive jurisdictions in the country for ride-sharing drivers to get on the road,” he said in a statement.

“It is especially hard to understand why the Government would choose to do this when all ride-sharing drivers already hold a safety accreditation that costs $300 and that covers driving history, criminal background and medical checks.

“It appears to be a ‘double dip’ on people who are simply looking to access flexible work.

“We look forward to working with the Government in the coming weeks to help them remove arbitrary red tape, including unnecessary costs or time delays, that would prevent Western Australians from being able to access flexible work when they need it.”

Victoria also appears poised to jump on the ride-sharing bandwagon, with a Melbourne UberX driver yesterday winning an appeal against his conviction for operating without a commercial passenger vehicle licence – a result seen as effectively legalising the business model.