SATURDAY night revellers who have had to wait hours for a taxi, and sometimes take out a loan to then pay for it, might be surprised to know the price of taxi licences has been falling in recent months.

The latest price on the only licensed market for trading and leasing taxis, BSX Services, shows a deal about to go through at $462,000.

That's not a far cry from the $513,000 peak price recorded in May — a 10% drop to be precise — but it shows how even that market is feeling the pinch of borrowing costs and that it fears there will be fewer taxi users as the economy slows and companies and people cut back on costs.

Trading of taxi licences is still in its infancy in Australia, having only started in a regulated form in late 2006, but in the official market, sales and leases worth almost $130 million were handled in the year to June 30 and $120 million the year before.

BSX Services, a subsidiary of second-tier securities company NSX Ltd, has so far only been making markets for sales and leasing arrangements, known as assignments, in Victoria — and even then confined to Melbourne's metropolitan market and two regional markets around Ballarat and Frankston.

BSX, which charges $350 and $117 respectively on licence and assignment transactions to each party, generated about $311,000 revenue last financial year. There are eight or nine licence sales a month, and about 110 lease sales.

BSX Services manager Roma Poole said there had been a lot of interest from capital cities and regions wanting a more transparent market for trading and owning taxis.

But the most likely next place is either Sydney or Perth, she thinks, noting taxi brokers from those states have been expressing interest for some months. Smaller regions will be offered the opportunity to advertise on the BSX website — like the Emerald Taxis operation seeking a buyer with $2 million for its six cabs.

Part of the attraction may be that since the BSX market began, according to figures from the Victorian Taxi Directorate, the prices of licences have moved up from under $400,000 each to between $470,000 and $500,000.

The Essential Services Commission's recent report into taxi fares had a table showing the average revenue per taxi cab in 2007 was almost $143,000. In 2000 that figure was about $126,000, so the increase seems modest at 13% but in between times the number of taxi licences in the state rose by 500.

The additional licences are so-called peak-time taxis, the ones with green tops, that the Government owns and operates. Only licences issued before 2002 can be traded on the BSX.

http://business.theage.com.au/business/taxi-licences-a-make-or-brake-affair-20081017-539z.html