Guidance
The Queensland booked-hire pathway
Six stages, from licensing a car to running your own booking entity. For each one: what the law and TMR ask for, what we did and when, and what we learned, sometimes the hard way. Every rule links to the official page, so you can check it yourself.
TMR: the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads. BHSL: booked hire service licence, for the vehicle. Driver authorisation: for the driver. BEA: booking entity authorisation, for whoever takes the bookings. BEAR: TMR’s online system for the reports a BEA must send. The Act and the Regulation: the Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Act 1994 and Regulation 2018.
The vehicle: booked hire service licence
What TMR asks for
- If you provide booked hire in a car (not a taxi or limousine), the car needs a booked hire service licence. A booked hire service is a pre-booked hire of a vehicle with no more than 12 seats, including the driver’s, for a trip that starts in Queensland. [Act s 71, s 76; TMR BHSL page]
- The vehicle must be registered in Queensland with the right purpose of use, have a current certificate of inspection unless it is exempt (for example, a new vehicle in its first year of registration), and carry the right class of compulsory third party insurance (class 26 for most booked hire cars). Left-hand-drive and dual-control vehicles are not allowed. [TMR vehicle requirements; TMR COI page; MAIC CTP classes]
- To change CTP class, TMR accepts only a “change of class” letter from your CTP insurer. [TMR vehicle requirements]
- A BHSL lasts 12 months and cannot be renewed: you apply for a new one, up to 6 weeks before the old one expires. TMR checks the vehicle’s registration, inspection, CTP class and purpose of use throughout the year, and can suspend or cancel the licence if any check fails. [TMR BHSL page]
- TMR says applications can take between 5 and 20 business days, and longer in peak periods. [TMR BHSL page]
- Fee: $294.50 for 1 year, as at 1 July 2026. [TMR fees page]
- Security cameras. If a trip starts in one of the listed areas (Brisbane, Redcliffe, the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and others) and the passenger pays in person immediately before, during or after the trip, an approved security camera system is required. How and when you take payment can decide this. [Reg s 204, sch 4; TMR cameras page]
What we did
We bought our Kia EV9 second-hand in late July 2026, after checking its history. It was registered to the company for commercial use on 3 August 2026, and BHSL 285467 took effect on 7 August 2026.
What we learned
- The BHSL is for the car, not for you. It does not let you take bookings yourself; you still need a booking entity, either a ride-booking app like Uber or your own BEA.
- Put the BHSL expiry in your diary the day it arrives. It is a new application every year, not a renewal.
- Ask yourself early how riders will pay on trips that start in a camera area. It is cheaper to decide that before you build the business around it.
- Talk to your insurer about paid passenger work, and about carrying pets if you will. CTP is the only insurance we found TMR’s licensing pages require; your own cover is a separate question for your insurer.
The driver: driver authorisation and training
What TMR asks for
- Anyone who drives a public passenger service needs a driver authorisation for it. For booked hire that is the booked hire/taxi category. [Act s 27; TMR categories page]
- TMR looks at your licence history, criminal history (TMR does the check; you declare your whole history), traffic history and medical fitness. For this category TMR’s eligibility page asks for a current open or restricted Australian licence, held for at least 3 years in total, including at least 1 year continuously. [TMR eligibility page; TMR criminal history page]
- The medical is the commercial standard: you fill in form F3195 and your doctor completes F3712. The certificate lasts up to 5 years, and yearly from age 75. [TMR medical page]
- You apply on form F2978. TMR says most complete applications are finalised within 2 to 4 weeks. If approved, you can drive on an interim authority until your card arrives. [TMR how-to-apply page]
- Fees as at 1 July 2026: from $180.70 for 1 year to $561.55 for 5 years, plus $52.70 for the criminal history check for new applicants. [TMR categories page]
- Training. Every driver must be trained in anti-discrimination awareness (including sexual harassment) and disability awareness before providing a service. Your booking entity arranges it and keeps the record. TMR says the same applies to sole drivers who are their own BEA. [Reg s 97; TMR training page]
What we did
My interim driver authorisation, in the booked hire and taxi category, was issued on 21 August 2026.
What we learned
- Start the driver authorisation at the same time as the vehicle licence. You need both before you can drive a single paid trip, and they run on separate clocks.
- Book the commercial medical early; the certificate must be less than 6 months old when TMR gets it.
- If you become your own BEA, the training duty becomes yours, even if you are the only driver. Keep the record: who was trained, when, in what, and how you checked they understood.
Starting on Uber or DiDi
What TMR asks for
- In TMR’s words: “If you’re a personalised transport driver and you don’t arrange your own bookings (for example taxi and Uber drivers) you don’t need to apply for a BEA.” [TMR BEA page]
- You still need your driver authorisation and the BHSL, with registration, inspection and CTP in order. You display the app company’s approved sign (you must not make your own), give a fare estimate before the trip or agree the fare up front, and give an itemised receipt if asked. [TMR ride-booking page; TMR signage page]
- If you drive for more than one app, you display each one’s sign while you are available for it, and take all signs down when you are not working. [TMR signage page]
What we did
I drove my first Uber trip on 24 August 2026, the day after I started building our booking system. Uber was the booking entity for those trips, and it brought the riders while I learned the work. For our own system, the weeks up to 30 September were concept and build: designing it, building it, testing it.
What we learned
- Driving for an app is a good way to find out whether there is work, and what kind, before you spend on your own brand.
- Notice who rides with you and what an app can’t give them. Our market scan found the gaps on the island, and driving Uber confirmed them. So our direct service offers a fixed written quote instead of a price that can surge, a guaranteed ride home from the hospital, and a fitted boot for pets.
- The moment you accept a booking yourself (a regular rings you, someone books through your website), you are arranging a booking, and the law says you need to be a booking entity to do that. That is the next stage. [Act ss 72(2), 78(2)(b)]
Your own bookings: the booking entity authorisation
What TMR asks for
- “If you arrange bookings for a personalised transport service (taxi, limousine or ride-booking) you need to obtain a booking entity authorisation (BEA).” [TMR BEA page] Arranging bookings without one can mean penalties of up to 160 penalty units for a first offence. [TMR BEA page; Act s 78]
- A BEA can be granted for up to 5 years, with or without conditions. It cannot be transferred. [Act s 91X; Reg ss 187–188; TMR BEA application service]
- You apply online if every person involved has a TMR customer reference number (and the company has an ACN); otherwise in person. Forms include F5188 (the application), F5206 (each additional person), F5197 (each associated person of a company) and F5205 (more fleet details). A company also supplies a current ASIC company extract. [TMR BEA page; TMR BEA application service]
- TMR runs transport compliance and criminal history checks on each person (the criminal history check is waived for a person who already holds a driver authorisation). It may refuse an application for the reasons in the Regulation, such as a recent cancelled BEA, a recent relevant offence, or a disqualifying offence. [TMR BEA page; Reg s 189]
- Your sign. As part of a ride-booking BEA you get TMR’s approval for your vehicle identification sign: square, at least 146 mm by 146 mm, retroreflective, visible from 20 metres, identifying your booking entity, and never using words like “taxi” or “limo”. It goes on the bottom left of the front and rear windscreens (left as seen from behind the car) while you are available for hire, and comes down when you are not. [TMR signage page; Reg ss 90–91]
- Your safety management plan. As a booking service provider you are a responsible duty holder and must have and follow a written safety management plan: each hazard, the risk, what you do about it, who is responsible. It is not lodged with TMR unless TMR asks for it, and TMR does not review individual plans. Review it at least every 3 years and after any material change or incident, and keep old versions for at least 5 years. Business Queensland publishes an optional template. You develop the plan yourself, from the risks you identify in your own operation. [Act ss 67ZB–67ZC; Reg ss 77G–77L, 276A; Business Queensland SMP pages; Business Queensland SMP template]
- Fees as at 1 July 2026: $310.35 for a fleet of 1 to 5 vehicles, plus $52.70 per person for criminal history checks where they apply. $80 of the fee is not refunded if the application is withdrawn or refused. [TMR fees page]
- TMR publishes a processing time only for renewals (“at least 20 business days”). We found none for new applications. [TMR BEA page]
What we did
DYCOMDRIVE was registered as our business name on 22 September 2026. We lodged our BEA application on 24 September 2026. BEA 289710 took effect on 30 September 2026 with no conditions, and our sign (the DyCom ring mark, DYCOMDRIVE and a blue frame) was approved the same day. Until then our booking system was in concept and build. From 30 September it runs under our own BEA.
Please do not read our dates as a guide to yours. Every application is assessed on its own, and TMR does not publish a processing time for new ones.
What we learned
- Get your business name and your sign design settled before you apply. The sign must clearly identify your booking entity, so it follows from the name.
- Use the weeks before your BEA. Ours were concept and build: I designed our system, built it and tested it, and it began running under our BEA the day it took effect.
- Develop your safety management plan yourself, before you need it, from the risks you identify in your own operation: your car, your riders, your hours, your roads. We are happy to help you work through it, review your draft and explain what TMR expects, but the plan has to be yours. Ours is about our operation and cannot be reused as yours. A plan copied from someone else is not a plan.
- Your duties start the day your BEA does. Set up your records (quotes, booking records, receipts, fatigue record, driver training) before the first direct booking, not after. I held off driving under our BEA until our shift log was built.
- Being your own BEA as a sole driver means every duty that the app company used to carry is now yours: training, the fatigue record, the reports.
Day to day
The duties, and how our system carries them
These are the everyday duties of a BEA holder in Queensland, as we read them. The right-hand column is how DyComDrive handles each one today. The system makes them routine; it does not make you compliant. That stays your duty, and duties cannot be handed to someone else by contract. [Business Queensland safety duties]
| Duty | What the law asks | How our system handles it |
|---|---|---|
| Written fare estimate | Before the service, a written estimate in dollars of the fare, any circumstances in which it could be higher, and how the extra would be worked out. Charging more than the estimate plus any stated extra is an offence. [Reg s 88] | A quote is sent by text or email from the fare rules. A booking cannot be confirmed until the quote has been sent. The quote is a ceiling, checked when the trip is settled. |
| Booking record | A legible record of every booking (who the hirer is, pickup date, time and place, the estimate), given to the driver before the trip, kept at least 2 years, produced on request. Electronic records are fine. [Act ss 80–82; Reg s 89] | Every change to a booking is recorded as a new entry that cannot be edited or deleted. The driver’s day sheet carries the record. An export for TMR. |
| Identification sign | Your approved sign on the front and rear windscreens while available for hire; off when not. [Reg ss 90–91] | Not a software job. |
| Receipts | If the hirer asks, an itemised receipt before leaving the destination: driver authorisation number, fare and its parts, any surcharge, start and end times, origin and destination. [Reg s 92] | A receipt goes automatically after every finished trip, built from the record, and refused if the record disagrees with itself. |
| GST | Ride-sourcing is taxi travel for GST: register for GST regardless of turnover, before your first trip. Give a tax invoice for a fare over $82.50 if asked. [ATO ride-sourcing pages; ATO tax invoices page] | Every receipt is also a tax invoice. (Check your own GST position with your accountant.) |
| Fatigue record | A written record of each driver’s days and times driving or available to drive (including being logged in to a booking app or heading to a pickup), kept 2 years, produced within 28 days of a written notice. [Reg ss 77C–77E; TMR fatigue page] | A shift log: start and end of shift, a trip opens a shift if none is open (and flags it), late entries need a reason, nothing is edited. Exports to the format TMR asks for. |
| Driver, vehicle and trip information | Records of each driver and vehicle on your books, and of every booked hire service provided or requested, kept 2 years. [Reg ss 108–110] | Kept as the bookings happen; the reporting area of every trip is confirmed by a person. |
| Reports to TMR (BEAR) | Quarterly reports due 28 Oct, 28 Jan, 28 Apr and 28 Jul; an annual report due 28 Jul; others within 28 days of a written request. [TMR data keeping and reporting page; Act s 91ZG] | Quarterly and annual figures built from the record, in the order BEAR asks for them, with a review list that holds back anything it cannot stand behind. Our first real quarter is due 28 Oct 2026. |
| Privacy | TMR may share reported data only without confidential information, for planning purposes. The Privacy Act covers most businesses over $3 million turnover; smaller ones in some cases. [Reg s 111; OAIC small business page] | The public pages never show names, addresses or exact times. Sensitive notes need the rider’s consent, recorded. Data kept in Australia. |
| Keeping records | 2 years is the minimum across these records. [Act s 81; Reg ss 77C, 108–110] | We keep 5 years, for tax as well as transport. |
What we learned
- Every rule in this table was something we had to build for ourselves. Two were easy to miss, and both were gaps in my own first design: a booking taken over the phone needs a written quote too (ours go by text or email, since 6 October), and the fatigue record covers the time you are available for work, not just the time you are driving. We closed both before our first trip under our own BEA.
- Build the rule into the button. Our “confirm booking” button will not work until the written quote has gone; our receipts are generated from the record, never typed.
Keeping it current
What TMR asks for
- BHSL: apply for a new one up to 6 weeks before expiry; TMR suggests at least 20 business days ahead. [TMR BHSL page]
- BEA: renewable, for up to 5 years. TMR’s pages give two different windows (“6 weeks before” on the BEA page, “within 30 days” on the renewal service). Start 6 weeks out and ask TMR which applies. [TMR BEA page; TMR BEA renewal service]
- Driver authorisation: TMR posts renewal forms 6 weeks before expiry; you cannot drive once it expires. [TMR how-to-apply page]
- Certificate of inspection, registration and CTP: current at all times (unless exempt); TMR checks them against the BHSL. [TMR BHSL page]
- Safety management plan: a full review at least every 3 years. [Reg s 77K]
- Telling TMR: changes to a holder’s name or addresses within 10 business days [Reg s 277]; growing your fleet past your fee category, written notice within 14 days [Reg s 199] (form F5260 for fleet changes [TMR BEA page]); a relevant person charged with a disqualifying offence, immediately [Reg s 198]; ending a driver’s arrangement for serious safety misconduct, immediately [Reg s 117; TMR disaffiliation page].
What we did
We built a register into our system for every authority (the BHSL, the BEA, the driver authorisation, the inspection certificate). Give it an expiry date and it puts up a renewal banner before the date comes round.
What we learned
- Four documents with four different clocks is a lot to carry in your head. Don’t try. Put them in one place, with reminders.
Other states
Booked-hire law is state law. The Queensland Act only covers trips that start in Queensland.
- New South Wales: the Point to Point Transport Commissioner. Drivers who take their own bookings directly are booking service providers there, and must be authorised. [Point to Point Transport Commissioner, booking service providers page]
- Victoria: Safe Transport Victoria. Booking service providers register unless an exemption applies, and keep records for three years. [Safe Transport Victoria, CPV businesses page]
- Other states and territories: we have not researched them yet.
Our system is built around Queensland’s rules today. Using it in another state would need that state’s rules worked out and built in first. If you are outside Queensland, tell us your state and we will tell you whether and when we could help.
Sources
Every page below was read on 8 October 2026.
- TMR: Booked hire service licence, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Vehicle requirements for a booked hire service licence, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Personalised transport fees, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Booking entity authorisation, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: BHSL and BEA comparison table, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Signage requirements for ride-booking vehicles, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Data keeping and reporting, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: COI requirements for personalised transport vehicles, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Written notice requirements, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Personalised transport vehicle security cameras, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Driver training, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Fatigue management, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Driver disaffiliation, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Information for ride-booking drivers and operators, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Driver authorisation categories and fees, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Driver authorisation eligibility and suitability, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Medical requirements for drivers of public passenger vehicles, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: Effect of criminal history on driver authorisation, read 8 October 2026
- TMR: How to apply, renew, change or surrender a driver authorisation, read 8 October 2026
- TMR online services: Apply for a booking entity authorisation, read 8 October 2026
- TMR online services: Renew a booking entity authorisation, read 8 October 2026
- Business Queensland: Safety duties and duty holders, read 8 October 2026
- Business Queensland: About safety management plans, read 8 October 2026
- Business Queensland: Develop your safety management plan, read 8 October 2026
- Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Act 1994 (reprint current from 21 September 2026), read 8 October 2026
- Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Regulation 2018 (reprint current from 25 September 2026), read 8 October 2026
- MAIC: Personalised transport classes (CTP), read 8 October 2026
- ATO: Ride-sourcing registrations, read 8 October 2026
- ATO: Ride-sourcing tax invoices, read 8 October 2026
- OAIC: Small business, read 8 October 2026
- Point to Point Transport Commissioner (NSW): Booking service providers, read 8 October 2026
- Safe Transport Victoria: CPV businesses, read 8 October 2026
Thinking about your own booked-hire service?
Tell me where you’re up to. I’ll tell you honestly what I think the next step is, including when the answer is “not yet”. The first conversation is free.