The provincial government is looking to break the taxi industry monopoly with new rules it says will allow ride-sharing juggernaut Uber to enter B.C. and the Greater Victoria market.
But the operations manager of Victoria-based Yellow Cab, Surinder Kang, a former member of the Greater Victoria Taxi Association, says the new rules are nothing more than a carrot.
Transportation Minister Todd Stone unveiled the plan on Tuesday morning. It proposes significant reforms to the taxi industry but also financial support to make the transition. That includes $1 million in support to finance their move toward a consistent ride-hailing app for shared dispatch of taxis across B.C., allowing riders to hail and pay via smartphone, and $3.5 million to install new crash avoidance technology in taxis as a means of helping taxi firms reduce their down time and resulting costs (taxis that already installed the equipment will have their costs reimbursed). Taxis will also retain exclusive rights to street hailing and pickups from cab stands – Uber cars couldn’t simply be flagged down without using the app.
The rules could be in place in time for a December 2017 entry by Uber into B.C.
“A taxi off the road is lost revenue for that company and for the drivers that use the vehicle.”
Communities Minister Peter Fassbender estimated the new taxi-hailing app that’s to be developed could save the existing industry up to 25 per cent. He also indicated that pending legislation will eliminate many of the existing rules that have constrained taxi companies for years.
Taxis will be allowed to pick up customers and drop them off anywhere – suburban cabs would no longer be barred from picking up fares in Vancouver or vice-versa.
Taxi companies also would no longer be under a licence cap – Fassbender said they could add more vehicles “if that is the business decision they want to make.”
Both taxi and ride-share drivers will have to be 19 years old, pass criminal record checks, pass a driver safety record check and vehicles will have to pass regular inspections.
Uber or other ride sharing drivers will have to have the same level of insurance, and taxi drivers will no longer need a Class 4 driver’s licence, but the same Class 5 licence as ride-share drivers.
Last year the province sought feedback form communities and Coun. Fred Haynes was among the Saanich response.
"There are a lot of issues here," Haynes said. "There are hundreds of local families affected by this, there is the level of safety of the vehicle, and the question of how the GST and PST are paid, and the municipal tax.
Uber, for example, takes its profits out of Canada.
"We don’t know how efficiently the money comes back into our economy," Haynes said.
Haynes worked closely with the local taxi industry last year regarding the barriers they face and says a huge population of the region's drivers and taxi related employees live in Saanich.
Haynes questions whether the ride sharing economy is going to deliver the benefits everyone thinks they will if it's left as it is, or will it have to be closely regulated.
- With files from Jeff Nagel