This past week, the province announced it will begin to allow ride-sharing applications in B.C. sometime after mid-September and unveiled the new rules that will regulate the service.
Kelowna city councillor Ryan Donn called the new rules “a joke,” singling out the requirement that drivers require a Class 4 licence as a barrier that would keep the service from taking off in smaller cities like Kelowna.
On Friday, Kelowna Cabs spokesperson Roy Paulson said the Class 4 requirement is a positive step for putting ride-share drivers on a level playing field with cab drivers, but he says the new rules still aren’t fair.
“Competition is healthy for any business, but it should be a level playing field for everybody,” Paulson said.
“For me to be a taxi driver, I have to have my Class 4. I also have to have a chauffeur’s permit, which is actually a criminal background check.”
Paulson also pointed to different insurance requirements and the lack of boundary restrictions that will be placed on ride-share drivers.
“With us, we can go just north of Oyama and as far down as Peachland,” he said. “It should be the same set of rules for everybody, in order to make it a competitive business. Having that competition will make it that much healthier because each company will strive to be better than the other.”
Paulson acknowledged the addition of ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft could help ease taxi wait times during peak times, like after bars close on busy weekends. But he says most of the time, cabs are sufficient in meeting demand in Kelowna, with the average wait time of a Kelowna Cabs customer being five to 11 minutes.
“From what I see with what’s going on with Uber so far, it’s not looking fair because of the no boundaries, their insurance and things like that are way different than what it is in the taxi industry,” he said.
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