Daily Poll: What do you think of B.C.'s ride-hailing rules?
Credit to Author: Scott Brown| Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2019 14:07:24 +0000
Uber and Lyft, both looking to establish service in British Columbia, were winners Monday when new ride-hailing rules were laid out by the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board.
Under the rules, ride-hailing companies will be able to operate in much larger geographic regions compared to municipal borders for traditional taxis.
PTB Chair Catherine Read said the boundaries where passengers can be picked up must be big enough for the ride-hailing model to be successful in a province that will require drivers to have commercial licences similar to those used by taxi drivers.
There will be five large regional boundaries in B.C. for ride-hailing companies:
• Lower Mainland, Whistler — including Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Squamish-Lillooet
• Capital Regional District — excluding the Gulf Islands
• Vancouver Island — excluding the CRD
• Okanagan-Kootenay-Boundary-Cariboo — including the Central Okanagan, North Okanagan, Kootenay Boundary, Shuswap Cariboo, Thompson-Nicola and Columbia.
• B.C. North Central and all other regions of B.C.
Ride-hailing companies, who are expected to start operating in parts of British Columbia by the end of the year, will also not face caps on the number of drivers on B.C. roads or limits on surge pricing to raise rates during busy events.
The B.C. Taxi Association said it was disappointed and angry with the rulings.
“The association is very concerned,” said president Mohan Kang. “When we see that there is no cap on the (ride-hailing companies) that will be something like when you are flooding a market.”
What do you think?