Taxis will be able to set their own fares under Victoria's new deregulated ride service model, with passengers to get a fixed cost or an estimate before the trip starts.
The Andrews Labor government on Wednesday introduced the second part of legislation aimed at legalising Uber into the parliament.
The laws will require all service providers to provide passengers with a fixed fare cost or estimate before the trip begins.
If the trip is more expensive than the estimate, passengers should "report that offence and they run the risk of losing their accreditation", says Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan.
"This is about greater competition and consumer choice," she told reporters on Wednesday.
"Different providers will take different approaches. And what we're seeing as part of these overall changes to the industry is we're massively reducing costs for people to provide these services."
Providers will still have to display the cost to passengers before the trip starts.
Ms Allan said providers who collude to inflate prices also run the risk of getting barred and breaching federal competition rules.
But Opposition Leader Matthew Guy called it a "panicked" announcement.
"Fancy first reading this bill out of nowhere, having told no one, in the middle of what is one of the most important weeks in parliament in years," he told reporters.
"Who's to know what the detail is? I haven't been briefed, I don't think many people have."
Victorian Taxi Association chief executive Georgia Nicholls said consumer laws will protect customers.
"If a service provider makes an undertaking as to the price of a service they have to stick with it," she told ABC 774.
"There has to be transparency for the customer."
Ms Nicholls said taxi services were deregulated in country and regional areas more than three years ago.
"We haven't seen major shifts in the way that taxi services work," she said.
"There's still receipts, there's still meters, there's still an exercise of control over the way that fares are calculated."
Share
