Brisbane

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Queensland taxi drivers will be mandated to turn on their meters for all rank and hail journeys, even if a pre-arranged price has been agreed to, in a bid to ensure passengers are not overcharged.

The state government signed off on the new regulations last week, with taxi drivers to face fines of up to $3,096, or be issued a penalty infringement notice of $309, if they are caught breaching the rules when they come into effect from October.

The new regulations will require drivers who are delivering a rank or hail taxi service to activate their meter regardless of whether a fare has been agreed to in advance with the passenger.

In Queensland, the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) regulates maximum taxi fares for those services that are hailed or taken from a rank.

A spokesperson for the department said that by displaying the maximum fare for all journeys on the meter, passengers would be able to identify if a driver was attempting to overcharge them.

The regulation's explanatory notes say there have been a number of incidents of taxis reportedly charging more than the maximum fare set out under the law, or refusing to take passengers who have requested the meter be turned on.

The original article contains 470 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 56%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!