VICTORIA — Ride-hailing companies like Lyft will not face caps on the number of drivers on B.C. roads or limits on surge pricing to raise rates during busy events, under rules unveiled Monday by the Passenger Transportation Board.
There will, however, be a ban on ride-hailing vehicles from picking up passengers around Canada Place on days cruise ships are in the terminal. However, the Port of Vancouver is exploring options for other pickup spots ride-hailing companies might be able to use. The decisions are the last rules to be set before ride-hailing companies can start applying for licences on Sept. 3.
Ride-hailing giant Lyft announced last week it would operate in B.C., despite disagreeing with the Class 4 licence decision. Uber has yet to announce its intentions.The BC Greens praised the new rules, but said they will keep an eye on the boundary issue and whether taxis should have their municipal boundaries relaxed in the future as well.
“It doesn’t help the travelling public any if that just happens. We won’t see any more cars on the road we’ll just see different branding.” The Vancouver Taxi Association argued that the current boundaries for Vancouver should remain. Uber and Lyft should be restricted or else their drivers will flood the downtown core at peak times, congesting the roads, frustrating the travelling public and stealing taxi fares, the Vancouver association claimed. It could also dramatically decrease the value of the 882 Vancouver taxi licences.
FLEET SIZEWhat taxis wanted: Taxi companies argued that ride-hailing companies should have the size of their fleets capped, so that they could not overwhelm the number of traditional taxis on the road and devalue taxi licences. The Vancouver Taxi Association proposed companies like Uber and Lyft should only be allowed to operate half the number of vehicles as taxi licences — so a combined 441 ride-hailing cars in Vancouver compared to the existing 882 traditional taxi licenses.
Well if the taxi lobby is ticked off then it must mean this is a good deal for everyone else Couldn’t be happier to never take a cab again!
Sooner the better...