Price of a taxi license could go up to fund regulation of industry

Thestarphoenix.com
Nov. 10, 2015
By Andrea Hill

If Saskatoon’s taxi companies want their industry regulated, they need to pay for it, a city committee declared.

Council’s transportation committee this week recommended that annual taxi license fees increase to $525 from $375, effective Jan. 1.

The move would net the city an additional $34,000 a year, to bring taxi license revenue to $115,000 annually - money that would be pumped into taxi bylaw enforcement, including salary for a taxi bylaw coordinator and enforcement campaigns.

“They’ve made it very clear that they want regulation, they don’t want a deregulated taxi industry, so if they want regulation then they should be covering those costs,” committee chair Coun. Charlie Clark said after the meeting.

The issue of taxi bylaw regulations has been a hot topic at city hall for the last year as councillors and the taxi industry have struggled to come up with a plan for when Uber, the popular and controversial ride-hailing app, makes its Saskatoon debut.

The taxi industry has asked the city to subject Uber drivers to the same regulations taxi drivers must follow. The cities of Saskatoon and Regina are both lobbying the Saskatchewan government for province-wide ride-sharing regulations that could resemble municipal taxi bylaws. Uber has not yet indicated when it plans to start operating in the province.

Taxi industry representatives did not dispute that more should be spent on regulation, but they told the committee that an approximate 40-per-cent increase in taxi license fees is excessive.

The money needed for taxi bylaw enforcement could be raised by other means, such as increased penalties and fines for those who violate bylaws, said United Cabs general manager Carlo Triolo.

But councillors backed the plan to increase the cost of taxi licenses.

“I don’t think that the city as a whole should be subsidizing the costs of administering and responding to requests and concerns and bylaw infractions within the industry; it should be self-supporting and the industry needs to be able to cover those costs,” Clark said.

The recommendation will go before council on Nov. 23.