Slow road to Uber

Uber might be a fast and efficient way to get a ride, but there is nothing fast or efficient about bringing the ride-hailing service to B.C. On Thursday, Transportation Minister Claire Trevena announced that companies such as Uber and Lyft won’t even be able to apply for permission to operate until September 2019.

What seemed like an easy reform when the NDP and the Green Party were in opposition looks a good deal more complex now that the buck has stopped on the cabinet table. The government commissioned industry expert Dan Hara to study the issue, and his recommendations are reflected in Trevena’s new policies.

The problem, of course, was how to deal with the taxi industry, whose members face losing their investments and possibly their livelihoods. Taxi drivers looked to San Francisco and Los Angeles, where large taxi firms have gone out of business because of ride-hailing, and feared the same would happen here.

Before the ride-hailing companies start operating, the government plans to increase the number of taxis in the province by 15 per cent. Customers will be able to book and pay for cabs using an app, and cabs will be allowed to offer discounts to those customers.

It’s clear that the imminent arrival of Uber and Lyft have pushed the taxi industry into innovations that it should have looked at years ago. But will tweaking the old model save it when the new model arrives in town?