Anyone who’s had to catch a taxi in Ballina knows it can be frustrating — with long waits, missed bookings, and not enough drivers willing to work late nights or early mornings for the small returns.

It seems nearly everyone has a story to tell.

Few could be worse than that of former Ballina Shire councillor Susan Meehan.

Last week, she was grieving the death of her mother when she booked a taxi to take her 96-year-old father — a wheelchair user — to the funeral service in West Ballina.

She made two taxi bookings, at 3:30pm and 5:00pm, and stressed to the dispatcher how important the trip was.

“I told them, ‘please don’t let me down,’” she said. But no taxi arrived.

“They said they would try to find one, but nothing happened. RSL Lifecare also tried to arrange transport and got hung up on.”

Family members eventually transferred her father into a regular car to get him to the service and back.

 “A traumatic occasion made so much worse by a company clearly as organised as a dog’s breakfast,” Mrs Meehan later posted online.

Now, a new operator says he’s ready to provide an alternative.

Jesse Pamment knows the frustrations from the inside. 

He worked for Byron Taxis and previously drove for 13 Cabs. He says when the business changed hands, things went downhill.

“Jobs were being missed, customers were being left stranded, and a lot of drivers just wouldn’t work the unpopular hours,” he said. “The community felt ignored.”

Jesse lives with autism and says that while the condition has brought its challenges, it has also given him a strong sense of routine, reliability, and attention to detail — all traits he plans to bring to his new venture, Eight Cabs, launching in October.

“I get people from A to B when they book, and I’m reliable,” he said.

“It’s not all about money — it’s about giving back to the community. I’ve seen how much people rely on transport here, especially at night or early in the morning when other options aren’t available.”

He says Eight Cabs will operate across Ballina and nearby towns, with prices comparable to Uber and generally lower than taxi fares.

Jesse is also looking for other drivers — “people who care about service, not just the fare” — to join his roster.

His goal is simple: to rebuild trust. “If someone books with us, they’ll get a car. No excuses.”

Byron and Ballina Taxis were contacted for comment the day prior to publication, however did not respond prior to dealine.

The Directors of Byron & Ballina Taxis and Hire Cars have since provided the following response in a statement to Ballina News Daily:

“We are deeply sorry that Susan’s booking was delayed and that this caused distress to her and her family. We could have done better and have offered credit for future travel. Susan did not reply to us, and we have been in two minds as to whether we should reach out again. Out of respect for her family during this time of grief we decided to leave it for now.

“We take great pride in serving our community and understand how important reliable transport is for our wheelchair and disability clients, and this was not the level of service we aim to provide.

“On the day of Susan’s booking, several unforeseen factors affected our ability to meet all scheduled bookings on time. It was during the busy period where most of our fleet is servicing disabled students as part of the assisted school travel program. It was also a period when demand for our service peaks. We were short on WAT drivers due to illness, and a number of our key drivers were away. As a result of these shortages, office staff including one of our directors was out driving to help meet demand. These challenges combined to create unexpected delays, despite the booking being made the day before we were unable to get there on time. Our system suggests we were there 30 mins late but by this time the passengers had left. We did not communicate all these challenges to Susan.

“Our company has proudly supported the local community, including people with disability, for over 35 years and we recently took over operations of Ballina Taxis, combining the Ballina and Byron Bay Fleets into one. Our goal in combining the fleets is to build some scale and overcome the perpetual challenges facing the industry. As the area has grown in affluence, property prices have soared and cost of living has substantially impacted revenue and it has become ever more difficult to attract and retain Taxi drivers. These are just some of the challenges facing our business.

“It is not easy running a small business but we are committed to serving the community and take many daily actions and longer-term initiatives to ensure service is maintained. A 30-minute delay is not acceptable to us, and this is not representative of our usual service. We measure our on-time performance, and we arrive on time in over 90% of cases. Point to Point Transport can be messy, and many customers don’t treat our service with respect and fail to understand or care for the challenges we face. There is an underlying belief we are just waiting around the corner for their booking. Not the case in Susan’s situation but this is the reality we face and managing the erratic demand is a daily challenge.

“You might be interested to know that we operate one of the largest Wheelchair Accessible Taxi (WAT) fleets in the region with 50% of our vehicles being WAT and we work extremely hard to ensure transport is available for those who need it most. It costs approximately double the amount of money to operate a WAT versus a sedan Taxi, which is a cost we bear to support the community. The government offers large amounts of support to foreign owned public transport companies such as CDC, community transport organisations and NGO’s through the NDIS funding. And these services only touch the surface of what is needed by the disability sector. As Taxi operators we bear the significant cost of running disability and late-night services with very little support from Government. Despite these challenges we continue to invest and turn up for our customers, not for the money as I can assure you Taxis are a low margin business. We continue to invest because we care and believe someone should work to fill the transport gaps in regional towns. 

“We are constantly working on training more drivers in operating Wheelchair Taxis, investing in new vehicles, maintaining our current fleet of 11 Wheelchair Taxis and will continue to prioritise disability transport despite the financial burden and liability risks we face in doing so. 

“As for the Facebook comments from the general public. Some were fair but many were not. People love to pile onto Taxi providers like we are scum that could care less about the service. This could not be further from the truth. We also face a campaign of small competitors who use google and Facebook to undermine our business. Sadly, these online platforms give unvetted access to people with malicious intent. We also noticed Ballina News Daily also added comment to the facebook posts stating a new start up is coming to address the issue highlighted by Susan and others. We wonder how this is the case and the evidence you might provide to support your comments. We sincerely hope your interest in this issue is genuine and not a result of future financial gain from a new advertiser.

Editor’s Note: The response received also contained a number of damaging allegations regarding Mr Jesse Pamment and his previous work history with the company and other taxi providers in the region.
For legal reasons, we have chosen not to publish those claims.
Ballina News Daily has no business or personal relationship with any taxi provider, including Mr Pamment and makes no comment on his record or suitability as a taxi operator — only that he is an aspiring provider, who has clearly battled with personal challenges, and is seeking to establish his own service.