Surrey mayor promises hundreds of cabbies there will be no Uber or Lyft in his city
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2019 00:15:42 +0000
Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum promised hundreds of taxi drivers on Tuesday that he would not allow Uber or Lyft to operate in his city.
McCallum was met with loud applause when he told the group — which had been invited to the Fraserview Banquet Hall in Vancouver by the Vancouver Taxi Association — that he had been a longtime opponent of ride-hailing and “will not let ride-sharing come” to B.C.’s second-most populous city.
Ride-hailing has been approved by the provincial government and rules and regulations have been approved by the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board to allow an unlimited number of ride-hailing vehicles to operate by the end of the year. The two biggest players, Uber and Lyft, have applied to the government for permission to operate. The ride-hailing framework comes into effect on Sept. 16.
Taxi drivers are infuriated by the plan and have taken their plight to the Supreme Court of B.C., asking that the ride-hailing rules be quashed. In particular, they are upset that ride-hailing cars will not be limited in where they can operate while regular cabs are, that there will be an unlimited number of ride-hailing cars and that ride-hailing operators will be able to charge what the market will bear during busy times.
McCallum told the crowd that while acknowledging the provincial government was backing ride-hailing, the city had “one tool in its back pocket and I’m going to use it in Surrey.”
That tool is to not grant a business licence for any ride-hail operators wanting to do business in Surrey. “We will not be issuing any business licences to ride-sharing companies in Surrey,” he said.
Late Tuesday, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure issued a statement that the City of Surrey could not prevent ride-hailing companies from operating in within its boundaries.
The Passenger Transportation Board “is responsible for the regulation of taxis and ride-hail vehicles,” the statement read. “The board has sole responsibility to control supply, boundaries and rates.”
The ministry acknowledged that municipalities can require business licences, “but, to be clear, provincial law restricts the authority of municipalities to regulate the supply and boundaries of taxis and ride-hail vehicles. Only the Passenger Transportation Board is authorized to establish supply and boundaries for these services.”
Lawyer Peter Gall, who is representing the taxi industry in its court action, was at Tuesday’s meeting. He said it was attended by over 600 people, including one federal MP and a federal Conservative candidate.
“It was a packed hall and (McCallum) spoke to them. He was very passionate about the issue, about the congestion and the unfairness and the unequal playing field,” Gall said. “The upshot of what he said was that he wasn’t going to grant them a business licence to operate in Surrey. He seemed to say it very confidently. The mood in the room was very emotional, because this is their livelihoods at stake.”