About 70% of BC politicians in the legislature are throwing their support for ridesharing options like Uber and Lyft in the province.
The results come after a recent poll showed residents are craving the service, voicing their approval by a seven to one margin.
It would come in handy for places like Prince George during stat holidays.
“When you have things like Mothers Day and Stat holidays and Christmas and New Year’s that people can freely get around and it’s a real boost to the economy and Prince George is the same way, you regulate a number of taxi’s and the poor taxies can’t keep up,” says Ian Tostenson, Ridesharenow.com Spokesperson.
While most of the talk around the Lower Mainland, the service would be of great use in the northern capital.
As for how the taxi industry would be affected, Tostenson adds there are clauses in the province’s report that would protect the industry.
“They’ll probably retain exclusive domain over ride-hailing services and also around hotels, so there is attention in the report to make sure the taxi industry doesn’t lose that exclusive domain that they have been used to in the past.”
“What I think is great is that it’s going to give taxi’s a broader opportunity to compete and let the private market to decide in terms of service and I don’t think the taxi service should be afraid of that.”
He says in major cities like Calgary who have ridesharing saw the number of rides increase by two million, while the taxi industry is down only four percent.
The only thing to really iron out is around insurance for both commercial vehicles and taxi’s
“It’s interesting to see how insurance works for the new technology, a commercial insurance rate for a car only comes into play when a ridesharing driver when they are actually doing the activity and then when they revert back to being a private citizen and driving their car they don’t pay those commercial rates,” added Tostenson.
“So the question will be, taxi cabs pay an awful lot for insurance but if the cars aren’t being used from a commercial point of view, is there some sort of a different insurance package that would provide some relief.”
“By the time taxi’s pay fees and insurance, it’s a pretty expensive operation and that’s where I think the government is going to be really clear – they don’t want to sink the industry and hopefully what they do is bring the cost down on transportation, not try and make it as costly as the taxi cabs are today.”
He would like to see a new service up and running by the fall.
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