IT'S official - Rockhampton has the state's safest taxi industry but drivers need to do some serious work on their attitudes after a new survey found they have become less friendly and pleasant.

Rockhampton was among 10 Queensland regions to take part in the latest Roy Morgan Taxi Mystery Shopping survey that is conducted every two years.

The mystery shoppers took 78 trips around our region for the Department of Transport and Main Roads-commissioned survey.

The shoppers ranked their taxi rides on a range of aspects including arrival times, vehicle appearance, driver attitudes, customer service, safety and fares.

With 0% being the lowest score and 100% being the highest, the report ranked Rockhampton's overall performance as 85% - two points higher than 2013's 83%.

In terms of safety, the region scored a strong 98% overall and, along with Townsville, had the state's highest ranking in this area.

Rockhampton taxis also earned 100% for working seatbelts and 100% for drivers following the road rules.

The overall taxi company service ranking that measures things like arrival times and the display of tariff stickers was 94% - a small decline on 2013's 95%.

The quality of driver service dropped two points to 73% and the score for driver attitude nose-dived from 82% in 2013 to 74% in 2015.

The shoppers also gave the region's drivers a low 57% for their journey experience - 6% lower than 2013's 63%.

The region was one of the few in Queensland to score a perfect 100% for driver presentation and grooming and the city's professionalism score of 65% was one of the highest in the state.

Rockhampton's taxi "characteristics" - cleanliness, odour, temperature and volume of music - improved dramatically with the shoppers allocating 93% - a climb of 10 points.

Yellow Cabs general manager Bill Parker said the company was always working to improve customer experience and driver and vehicle standards.

The company has 60 licensed vehicles in Rockhampton with the area's drivers making more than a million trips a year.

"We have a code of conduct and we are strong disciplinarians - we have high standards," Mr Parker said.

"Every driver is well trained, and they are very aware of customer service and how important it is and it's a very simple model but it gets results."

A Department of Transport spokeswoman said the survey "indicates the Queensland taxi industry is generally continuing to perform at high levels across the board".

"Industry will maintain its focus on improving performance particularly in the areas of journey experience, processing of fares and driver service/characteristics," she said. - ARM NEWSDESK

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Fact box

The Roy Morgan Taxi Mystery Shopping survey results for Rockhampton include:

Overall performance - 85 out of 100

Driver service and characteristics - 73 out of 100

Driver presentation - 100 out of 100

Journey experience - 57 out of 100

Safety - 98 out of 100

Sample number - 78

SOURCE: Roy Morgan Taxi Mystery Shopping Summary Report