Catching a ride: It’s a part of life for many people in Calgary.
Whether you hail a taxi the old-fashioned way or tap your Uber or Lyft app, changes approved at Calgary’s city hall Tuesday will affect that process.
Amendments to the city’s vehicle-for-hire bylaw (formerly known as the Livery Transport bylaw) blanket the sector in regulations, whether you operate a taxi or limo or drive for a ride-sharing app.
“Our intent is to make things safer for the riders, and by extension, for the drivers as well,” Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot says.
Included in those regulations is the requirement for all complaints to go through the city’s 311 service, and more exact location data, pinpointing your pickup and drop-off location to roughly a metre.
“Current bylaw states that we get the longitude and latitude of a licensed driver in a licensed vehicle,” says Cory Porter, the deputy chief of vehicle-for-hire with public vehicle standards.
“This helps shape transportation models, environment impacts and also for major events to make sure we’re accurate with pickup and drop-offs.”
Porter says the location data would also aid with investigations when law enforcement has to get involved.
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“If we’re aiding our partners at Calgary Police Service with investigations, we want as much detail as possible.”
But Uber is taking issue with the rules, filing a complaint with Alberta’s privacy commissioner.
“With this level of detail, you could pinpoint specific houses, or even trees. This could expose travel patterns of people in Calgary, especially in a city with low-density neighbourhoods,” says Keerthana Rang, a spokesperson for Uber Canada.
The bylaw has been amended several times in the past decade, as ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft (known as Transportation Network Companies, or TNCs in the bylaw) have been introduced to the city — often with looser regulations than traditional taxi or limousine companies.
A presentation to city council Tuesday showed that 80 per cent of all rides taken in Calgary last year were on ride-sharing services.
“We have [roughly] 9,000 licensed TNC drivers now in our city versus [roughly] 1,200 or so taxi licenses,” Chabot explained to media at city hall after the presentation.
“It’s diluted the service so much so that no one can make any money now.”
Chabot was one of the councillors who voted against an amendment by Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal to remove a provision that would have allowed taxi companies to set their own rates.
During times of increased demand, companies like Uber and Lyft often implement “surge pricing,” making the ride more expensive.
But the city’s maximum rate for taxi companies remains.
“I think the taxi industry is afraid that somehow, the rates are going to get lowered…. This was an opportunity for taxi drivers to raise their rates when demand exceeds supply,” Chabot says.
“That was intended to help support the taxi industry. Removing it takes away that opportunity for the taxis.”
A taxi industry advocate who spoke at city hall on Tuesday says the main concern for his colleagues is the price of insurance and licensing.
“It’s dying,” Abd Alla Bakhit told reporters when asked about the state of his industry.
“It’s absolutely strange. And [drivers] can’t do anything.”
Chabot says it’s likely not the last time this bylaw is reworked.
“I think it does need to be revised again.”
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