Uber to launch in city by fall

LethbridgeHerald.com
June 20, 2017
Melissa Villeneuve
  
There will soon be another option for hitching a ride in Lethbridge. Popular rideshare company Uber will launch in Lethbridge before the fall.

Lethbridge City Council gave the nod of approval on Monday to amend its Licence Bylaw to allow ridesharing in the city.

Last April, an Uber representative presented to council the benefits of ridesharing and requested a “minor tweak” to the city’s bylaw to align with the provincial ridesharing standard.

Ridesharing is the ability for someone to use their personal vehicle to offer a trip to someone else, matched through mobile technology. If someone needs a ride, they could go to the Uber app on their smartphone, type in where they want to go, and request a trip. The offer would go out to the nearest Uber driver to either accept or decline.

A customer can see the driver’s picture, their name, the vehicle make and model, their licence plate, and their customer service rating.

After following the Uber driver’s arrival route on the GPS map, they get into the car, and are taken to their destination. There’s no need to handle cash or credit cards, as the payment is processed electronically.

Benefits include an additional method of affordable, reliable transportation, as well as income opportunities for students and anyone else who wants to drive and make some additional money.

Two options were presented to council by Duane Ens, the city’s Regulatory Services Manager, after consultations with the local taxi industry and other Alberta municipalities.

The first, and city-recommended option, was to allow provincial authorities and Transportation Network Companies to ensure driver compliance with existing provincial legislation.

The second option, preferred by taxi operators, was for the individual drivers to obtain a municipal business licence as well as meeting provincial requirements.

Uber drivers are required by the province to have a driver’s licence, insurance, a background check and commercial registration. Peace officers are authorized to enforce the regulations and inspect for compliance. Fines for non-compliance can be up to $50,000.

If option 2 were approved, not only would the TNC require a City Business Licence, but each individual driver would need a municipal licence in the same manner as taxi operators. The city would then maintain a registry of TN drivers through licensing.

After reviewing how other municipalities handle TNCs, it was learned only Calgary and Edmonton are licensing individual TN drivers, and that Edmonton is considering moving away from it.

Council unanimously approved option 1. Some councillors were concerned there wouldn’t be municipal oversight or about the impact on transit service, but it was noted the issue could be revisited at any point in the future. Some touted the benefits of having an alternate method of transportation to curb drinking and driving.

“That means TNC companies will be able to operate in Lethbridge fairly soon,” said Ens. “It has to go through three readings of the bylaw still, but I anticipate that sometime in the summer the citizens of Lethbridge will be able to have TNC companies as an option.”

The province requires many of the same “checks” that the city requires for taxi operators, he explained.

“We’re hoping city council approves everything that’s necessary before school starts,” said Ramit Kar, Uber’s general manager for Western Canada. “This is one step along the way, but it’s a good positive step.”

Once the bylaws are amended, said Kar, Uber will begin recruiting local drivers. They’ve already held some information sessions in the city and will continue those.

There’s been a great demand for Uber in Lethbridge, both from the driver and the passenger side, said Kar.

“Riders obviously love this as an option from just having another transportation option available to them, but also from a driver perspective,” he said. “In Alberta, people are looking for other opportunities to earn. So this is one of those great opportunities where you’re not holed into shifts. You can basically drive whenever you want to drive.”

Uber has been adopted in more than 40 cities across Canada, with more than 1.6 million using the service, according to Uber statistics.