Time for B.C. to move beyond taxi monopolies

MLAs have the right idea for province-wide ride hailing, Philip Meyer writes.

Calgary’s taxi complaints are down 20 per cent since ridehailing started operating. The taxi industry still exists and it is providing a better service.

A committee of MLAs this week made 32 recommendations on how to regulate ride-hailing services, paving the way for government to introduce legislation this fall to finally bring the in-demand service to B.C.

Last month, the committee held hearings in Vancouver and heard testimony from a range of interested parties such as TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond, the City of Vancouver, and local app operator Ripe Rides. In a surprising show of solidarity, all presenters agreed that ride-hailing should be allowed, though there were differences of opinion on what regulations should look like.

One proposal in particular needs to be carefully scrutinized.

Taxi owners proposed that their monopoly be extended to also include ride-hailing. They would like their app of choice to be the only one to provide ride-hailing service across the province for at least the next three years. Riders and drivers would only be able to use the taxi’s app to get a ride, and the taxi industry would set up an umbrella organization to determine how many vehicles it would allow to participate.

In our view, this proposal is not in the best interests of British Columbians.

First, it would shut out local companies like Ripe Rides, Accio and Cowlines that have all expressed interest in setting up local ride-hailing businesses. It would stifle the ability for local tech companies to innovate and compete. Secondly, it would prevent tourists and business travellers from using the services they know and trust at home when they visit here, creating confusion and missed opportunities. Most importantly, local British Columbian riders and drivers would benefit from different apps competing for their services.

Across Canada, ride-hailing and taxis are regulated and coexist. With new options entering the market, some had predicted doom and gloom for the taxi industry, but that has not been the case.

Toronto’s largest taxi company declared in October that it is “busier than ever ... business is good, and we’re loving it.” City data in Calgary shows that in the first 12 months of competitive ride-hailing, five ride-hailing companies added 1.7 million new trips to the city while taxi trips decreased only four per cent. At the same time Calgary’s taxi complaints are down 20 per cent since ride-hailing started operating. In other words, the taxi industry still exists and it is providing a better service since ride-hailing arrived.

The Canadian Competition Bureau’s policy paper Modernizing Regulation in the Canadian Taxi Industry puts it best: “Competition should be an essential guiding principle in the design and implementation of regulations. Greater competition benefits consumers in terms of lower prices, higher quality of service, increased consumer convenience and higher levels of innovation. Competition is an effective means to ensure that consumers have access to the broadest range of products and services at the most competitive prices.”

It has been almost six years since Uber first experimented with black cars in Vancouver. Since that time, ride-hailing has taken off across Canada and around the world as we have learned that it is more efficient to pair mobile technology with personal cars that are already on the road. Carpooling on demand had been a policy objective for decades, and it now happens at scale, every day in cities like Seattle and Toronto as multiple riders share a trip with a driver. The industry has come so far; it is time it arrived in B.C.

Our businesses and visitors want a competitive ride-hailing option in our province in 2018.

In unanimously supporting a province-wide plan for ride-hailing services, MLAs are to be commended for putting the public interest first. When it introduces its legislation this fall, the government should embrace regulations that are working across Canada and around the world to enable ride-hailing and provide more choice for British Columbians.

Philip Meyer is managing director of the Rosewood Hotel Georgia. The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade and the B.C. Restaurant and Food service Association are co-signers to this article.