Amalgamated Taxis Wodonga chairman Scott Cowie will drive down to the meeting in Bulleen, which is organised by drivers’ group Victorian Taxi and Hire Car Families – not the Victorian Taxi Association.

“They’re looking at ways to legally try and get compensation for what the government has done to them, in terms of getting the proper value for their licence back at least,” he said.

“That’s the main goal of it, to try and come up with some ideas.” Mr Cowie, who studied commerce at CSU, said licences should be worth at least $150,000 based on the current market value. 

“They’ve moved the bar down very low, anybody can just have a car and go,” he said.

Wangaratta Taxis co-owner Rick Thewlis said his business’ licences were originally valued about $300,000.

“We bought them as business, not as an investment, and now they’ve been devalued to the bottom end of the scale,” he told The Border Mail.

“(It’s) very disappointing the way things have turned out for country people.”

The buy-back scheme was announced by Premier Daniel Andrews in a plan to streamline registration to cover taxis, rental cars and ride-sharing apps such as Uber under one system.

North East punters could be slugged an extra $2 for every taxi or ride-sharing trip they take from 2018 under a proposed levy to assist in the industry’s changes, whereas NSW residents would pay only $1 extra.

But Mr Andrews said it would be up to service providers to choose how they would pass on the fee to consumers, which would run for eight years.

Mr Cowie said the levy would be an onerous burden for commuters.

Uber-like ride-sharing service app My County Taxi launched last month on the Border, which some residents had found cheaper than catching a cab but was still experience technical hiccups.