If you were trawling Twitter today you probably spied a number of tweets complaining about taxis in Melbourne. The hashtag #YourTaxis was trending, started by the @YourTaxis Twitter account.
The account had asked users of Victorian taxis to share their stories online using the hashtag.
And Twitter responded with negative, disastrous and downright horrible experiences they’d had with Melbourne taxis.
.@yourtaxis Taxi refused to take me from Royal Melbourne Hospital to St. Vincent’s Hospital,taxi touted for and took fare to airport instead
— Peter Tonoli (@peter_tonoli) November 9, 2015
@yourtaxis I asked him to slow down cause I was feeling sick. He said “this is the way I drive” #TaxiYourWay #Melbourne — Kiran S (@Kiranrs) November 9, 2015
@yourtaxis It smelled like a wookiee’s armpit. I was preached at about how Somali immigrants are destroying Australia for 25 min. #YourTaxis
— Leigh Stillard (@LeighStillard) November 9, 2015
.@yourtaxis Left standing on footpath by 2 booked taxis in a row, trying to take my sick cat to vet; because it was a short fare. #YourTaxis — Tim Richards (@Aerohaveno) November 9, 2015
@yourtaxis asked my taxi to stop b/c his driving made me feel sick and unsafe. Driver called me a c***t and followed me home.
— Jessica Currie (@Jess_M_Currie) November 9, 2015
@yourtaxis Getting ignored when complaining, drivers not picking up WHEN BOOKED. Taking “detour” routes #justtaxithings #melbourne — Mathew Hutchison (@mathewhutchison) November 9, 2015
@yourtaxis Smelly drivers who take deliberately long routes, often have very little English and don’t know basic destinations. #fail
— Winsor Dobbin (@winsordobbin) November 9, 2015
You get the idea.
Since all the drama this morning, Victorian Taxi Association (VTA) released a statement saying it wasn’t surprised by the amount of negative responses received.
YourTaxis #epicfail? Not quite https://t.co/EXLiEaEdHa @YourTaxis — yourtaxis (@yourtaxis) November 10, 2015
“The outpouring of feedback on social media is being reported as a social media fail of epic proportions – not from our perspective,” the statement reads.
“The response on social media exemplifies the challenges we face as an industry and goes to underscore the motivations behind the YourTaxis campaign.”
VTA CEO David Samuel said the campaign was about starting a direct conversation with those who use the taxis.
“The response online over the past 24 hours isn’t anything we didn’t expect. We asked for feedback and we got it. The good and the bad and everything in between,” he said.
“It also demonstrates the number of people that rely on taxi services and we want to make sure our service continues to meet customers’ expectations in a period of rapid change.
“We will respond to everything that comes our way on YourTaxis.”
The Twitter account appears to have been responding to each tweet directly, many describing ways for disgruntled users to report bad experiences, as well as correcting those who called it a “PR Fail”.
Hi @benschwarz, it’s good to be hearing this feedback, exactly why @yourtaxis is so important.
— yourtaxis (@yourtaxis) November 10, 2015
Hi @nonstoptom, saw your comments earlier about #YourTaxis, any specific feedback we’re happy to hear.
— yourtaxis (@yourtaxis) November 10, 2015
Thanks @RLGriffinGWS We are listening to the feedback and inviting people to send through details of their issues so they can be addressed.
— yourtaxis (@yourtaxis) November 10, 2015
Hi @tristinkee We understand that fare refusal is an issue. Always keen to get details so we can follow up directly.
— yourtaxis (@yourtaxis) November 10, 2015
hi @travelbugalug. This is unacceptable Always keen to get details so we can follow up directly.
— yourtaxis (@yourtaxis) November 10, 2015
Not a PR fail @jonkudelka. Wanted to start a convo about @YourTaxis & offer an avenue for you to tell us what you think, which we have done
— yourtaxis (@yourtaxis) November 10, 2015
