A CLEAN RIDE
Cab companies want cleanup fees
Saskatoon could follow the lead of cities like Calgary and Vancouver and implement a so-called “vomit fee” on passengers who soil taxi cabs.
At its Monday meeting, city council’s transportation committee is scheduled to receive a recommendation from the administration to amend the taxi bylaw so drivers can impose a fee of up to $100 on a passenger if there is an incident involving bodily fluids. The fee would cover the cost to clean the vehicle, plus lost revenue while the vehicle is out of service.
Other cities have changed their bylaws to allow drivers to impose a fee for cleanup. In 2014, Calgary’s city council approved a $100 fee, and B.C. introduced a $75 fee. The City of Toronto allows drivers to charge $25.
The recommendation follows meetings the administration held in March with 33 drivers and 46 taxi licence owners, and a letter sent to the transportation committee in January by Malik Umar Draz, president of the United Steelworkers Local 2014.
In an interview on Thursday, Draz said if someone throws up in a vehicle, the driver currently has no way to get compensation.
“The driver who’s driving, he’s done for the night and he’s not able to make money. That’s why we (made the) request to the city to change the bylaw,” Draz said.
The driver still has to pay rental and dispatch fees and expenses for that night, he noted.
“Basically, it’s the driver that’s suffering from this kind of thing.”
The union estimates the cost to a driver could be up to $400 in lost revenue per incident.
Kelly Frie, general manager of Comfort Cabs, said he would support such a bylaw change. He estimates there could be between 10 and 20 incidents involving bodily fluids each year.
“The significance can be great, considering this can happen on a busy night, early in the night. That driver cannot work because it’s a biohazard issue in the car. And the car has to come out of service and that sometimes can take hours, up to half a day, because at 2 o’clock in the morning, who’s going to be able to clean that vehicle?” he said.
Draz’s letter also requested a discussion about installing safety shields in cabs. The administration is not recommending a bylaw change to make safety shields mandatory, but it notes they remain an option for drivers.
If the committee approves the “vomit fee” recommendation at Monday’s meeting, an amendment to the bylaw will be drafted and sent to council for approval at a later date.