Flexible taxi, ride-sharing service rules expected by fall: city
A City of Saskatoon report says rules to allow more flexible taxi service and app-based ride-sharing services could be ready by September.
That’s when provincial regulations to allow ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft are expected to come into force.
“Saskatoon is a city on the move and the proposed options will help to optimize the flow of people and goods in and around the city,” says a report headed to Monday ’s meeting of city council’s transportation committee.
If the committee and then city council approve the direction of the new regulations this month, city administration would move forward with new rules based primarily on a review of a similar bylaw in Edmonton, the report says.
A comprehensive vehicle-forhire bylaw, which would include limousines, would not be ready for about a year, but the changes for taxis and ride-sharing would be prepared for September.
The new rules for taxis and ridesharing companies would eventually be rolled into the comprehensive bylaw, the report says.
The numbers of taxi licences in Saskatoon would remain the same under the new rules at 160, but the 24 existing seasonal licences would be replaced by flex licences, allowing taxi companies to put more vehicles on the road to meet peak demand.
Ride-sharing companies, which mainly feature part-time drivers, would be licensed to operate, not individual drivers. No cap would be placed on the number of drivers they use.
Taxi fares would continue to be regulated based on time and distance, while ride-sharing companies would set their rates through so-called “surge pricing ” — lower costs during low demand times and higher costs during peak times.
Saskatoon taxi fares start at $3.75 for the first 130 metres, and meters displaying the fare would still be required. City officials are recommending a base charge of $3.10 for ride-sharing companies, even though the companies prefer no base charge.
That charge is based on the $3 cost of a bus ride in Saskatoon.
The city administration is also pitching a surcharge per ridesharing trip to cover the costs of regulating and enforcing the new transportation option. The amount of the surcharge will not be known until September, the report says.
The provincial rules mean ridesharing drivers will not have to acquire a taxi driver’s operating licence.
Most taxi regulations would remain as they are now, including the requirement for cameras and for a criminal record and “vulnerable sector” check each year.
Ride-sharing vehicles would not require cameras and it would be up to the company operating the ride-sharing app to perform annual checks on drivers.
Under the proposed changes, taxis will still be able to pick up customers who hail them on the street and to pick up fares at taxi stands. Ride-sharing drivers would be limited to picking up fares connected through a smartphone app.
The city would issues decals to identify ride-sharing vehicles, to be placed in a vehicle’s rear window, but ride-sharing vehicles would be prohibited from using any signage that might identify them as taxis.