Uber’s ride may finally be here

One of the last bills to be introduced in the current legislative session is going to be one of the most closely watched. A package of changes that could finally open the door in B.C. to ride-hailing companies will be introduced, likely this week. It has been a long time coming. Even after it's passed, there is still a long way to go.

The history of foot-dragging goes back years, through two governments. The B.C. Liberals finally started setting the table for such services toward the end of their last term, when they needed something popular for their reelection campaign.

They promised it would be up and running by the end of 2017, a promise matched by both the NDP and the Greens. But after taking power, the NDP started dithering.

Transportation Minister Claire Trevena started having second thoughts about the timetable. Even while acknowledging growing frustration over the fact B.C. doesn't have a service that's popular all over the world, she built in a lengthy delay, by ordering an exhaustive study of the taxi industry.

Separately, the issue was sent to a legislative committee for another study.

Trevena got the taxi report last summer and set a new target date for ridehailing - late 2019.

So even if the bill becomes law this month, it will take about a year before urban British Columbians can start downloading apps to order custom rides. And there are so many complexities that a one-year estimate might be optimistic. One of the key ones is the insurance regime that would accommodate the service.

Firms such as Uber want ICBC to sell auto insurance to them on a perkilometre basis.

That would provide appropriate coverage to drivers and passengers for every trip, even though drivers are using their personal vehicles.

That would require sophisticated on-board trip recorders and data management on a large scale, both at the companies and at ICBC, which is in no position to take on huge new costs.

It's projected to lose more than a billion dollars this year. Various efforts are underway to cut costs, not add to them.

But new insurance policies that kick into effect when a driver logs on to the app until they log the trip off are one of the key requests the industry has.

Whether it's in the bill or covered in later regulations, it's considered a must.

Based on a briefing from one of the firms, the companies also want all supply caps and municipal boundaries - as far as ride-hailing permits are concerned - eliminated.

The problem is rampant in the Metro Vancouver taxi industry - less so in Greater Victoria. It leads to trip refusals and making empty return trips at a loss.

A provincial authority approved 500 more cab licences this year, but it's unclear if the government is willing to go as far as the industry suggests.

In line with that is a request for an end to duplication of municipal authorities over driver licensing.

The firms want to pay one provincial authority one fee to operate, rather than several fees to other jurisdictions.

That's in line with what the legislative committee recommended when it looked at "transportation network companies."

Also on the table is the industry's need for price flexibility. The price of a ride often fluctuates in other jurisdictions.

It's cheaper in off-hours, then surge pricing kicks in during high demand (but waived during emergencies.)

The business model relies entirely on a pool of vehicle owners willing to hire themselves out as part-time drivers.

To make that pool as big as possible, the industry also doesn't want to see much in the way of higher requirements, beyond the standard Class 5 driver's licence.

So it will be hoping to see just online criminal-record checks and a driving history check as the only other qualifications for drivers.

The taxi review came up with a similar recommendation.

The bill will be yet another teaser in the seven-year history of getting ridehailing to B.C.

But if all goes well, Victoria and Vancouver will catch up to Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer and Lethbridge in the next year or so.

Les Leyne covers the B.C. Legislature for the Victoria Times Colonist.