Calgary taxis should have to adapt to Uber, not the other way around

The city needs to step back from this issue and bring matters into focus.

Metronews.ca
Nov. 30, 2015
By Roger Kingkade

So long, Uber. Come back soon.

Uber’s latest foray into Cowtown ended abruptly last weekend, cut short by an injunction the city sought to buy more time to amend bylaws that regulate hired vehicle services. The soap opera has been playing out for way too long with the taxi companies, and now the city, playing the role of villain in keeping the lowly Calgary reveller rideless and shivering on the curb. During Christmas party - er, holiday party - season, no less.

The city’s stance is pretty clear, at least as the mayor expresses it. Calgarians using their personal vehicles to drive for Uber aren’t properly insured. Uber claims they’ll back their drivers with a $5-million policy on top of the driver’s personal insurance. The personal insurance, the city says, is void if a personal vehicle is being used for professional purposes.

It seems we’re stuck waiting for one or two things to happen: Private insurance  companies to offer a product for Uber and other ride-share drivers, and/or the city to amend its bylaws.

On the first point, it’s baffling that a raft of options isn’t available. Demand without supply is the recipe for invention.

On the latter, there is simply too much focus on having Uber comply with taxi bylaws.

The city should be looking to bring taxis in line with the ride-share model.

The Competition Bureau (of which, ironically, there is only one) studied the debate  between ride-share and taxi regulations and noted that there isn’t much in the current system that makes for fair competition. Consider that owners of taxis can create their own scarcity, drivers are forbidden from competing on price and Uber is forbidden from competing at all.

In a free and open marketplace, why should a cab ride on New Year’s Eve cost the same as a mid-week fare at 2 p.m.? Why should the city be allowed to assign work hours to a private company employee? Why shouldn’t a car owner be able to use his own property for casual, part-time self-employment?

Last October, 2,000 wannabe cab drivers entered a lottery draw for 126 new taxi plates. These taxi plates occasionally pop up on Kijiji and command upwards of $100,000. Some of these sales also include a taxi.

It’s absolutely absurd that in order to take a job and earn money driving people around, one must jump through the types of regulatory and financial hoops that are required of the taxi driver. No wonder they get shirt-ripping, Uber-cursing mad when push comes to shove.

The city needs to step back from this issue and bring matters into focus. The stakeholders, in order of importance, are people who need rides, people who want to drive them, insurance companies, and, at the bottom of the list, the taxi company owners.

Don’t try to bring Uber into compliance with taxi bylaws. Relax regulations so that taxis have to compete in the world that ride-sharing disrupted. Do this, and we’ll be on our way instead of just standing around.