Calgary city council brings in new rules and ticked-off Uber says they're not coming back
calgarysun.com
Feb. 22, 2016
By Rick Bell
City hall played hardball and Uber struck out.
The cops had nothing to do. The seats weren’t filled with Uber supporters. The few cabbies in attendance kept their shirts on. The debate wasn’t heated. The vote wasn’t close, 14 to 1 in favour.
Coun. Evan Woolley was the one against.
Uber told the city they didn’t want them to go ahead. They considered the city was being too restrictive.
City council went ahead, confident the silent majority wanting choice but demanding safety would back them.
So, in the case of private for hire vehicles, as in Uber, the city will require an annual Calgary Police Service criminal history check plus an additional check for any pardons of sex offenders plus proof of valid commercial insurance.
Insurance for somebody driving their own wheels for money only part of the time has not yet been approved by the province.
Once a year, drivers must have their vehicles inspected up to the provincial standard, every six months if they drive more than 50,000 km. a year.
There are no restrictions on the number of private for hire vehicles. The new fee for a city licence is $220 a driver a year not a few cents a trip as Uber desires.
There’s also a $30 police check charge and the yearly inspection fee.
Woolley pressed for a further discussion on fees and a less rigorous vehicle inspection.
The council majority said No.
You could tell Mayor Nenshi had his fill of Uber.
He knew about Uber’s threat to abandon Calgary if they didn’t get what they wanted.
“This is the script. It’s page 347 of the script the general manager of Uber has to read.”
Nenshi says dealings with Uber are “very difficult.”
“They follow the same playbook in every jurisdiction,” says the mayor.
“We’re going to put in regulations that protect people.”
The city says when it comes to regulations for private for hire vehicles Calgary’s aren’t the easiest or the toughest, just somewhere in the middle.
And Nenshi adds Uber operates in locations with tougher hoops to jump through than Calgary and, in the three spots where they left, Uber eventually came back under stricter regulations than this city.
“I think no Calgarian will disagree with these rules. If these are rules Uber finds very difficult Lyft has my phone number, too.”
Lyft is one of Uber’s competitors.
As for the idea Uber can still rally the masses to support them, Nenshi is far from convinced.
“I really look forward to them telling the masses we don’t believe in a police check or a vehicle inspection and see how well the masses do with that.”
“And, in fact, we just want to pay less and have the taxpayers subsidize us. I’m not sure the masses are going to rise up for that particular argument.”
What is Nenshi’s assessment of Uber, a service he’s used elsewhere?
“Its not the be-all and the end-all. It’s fine. It’s good. It’s not a Star Trek transformer beam getting you to where you want to go.”
Other councillors echoed His Worship.
“If this is too onerous then maybe they shouldn’t operate in this city. Our intent is in protecting the public,” says Coun. Andre Chabot.
“Sad for Uber,” says Coun. Richard Pootmans.
One stood opposed. Residents in Woolley’s inner city ward wanted Uber and were vocal.
He believes Uber will be back.
How does he explain Uber’s lack of success with the city after the all the pro-Uber sentiment on social media?
“I think we have a generational gap here,” says the young Woolley.
“These kind of social media campaigns aren’t going anywhere.”
Ramit Kar, Uber’s Alberta GM, says the city’s bylaw is unworkable.
He says they’re waiting for the province to give a thumbs-up to an insurance plan for ride-sharing operations.
But Uber doesn’t like the way the fees are set up. They don’t like how the background checks and vehicle inspections are done.
Is Uber’s adios just a poker play?
“It’s not a bluff,” insists Kar.
Meanwhile, Nenshi smiles and says he is very tempted to call Lyft and tell them about Calgary.
