Council to mull scrapping taxi advisory board
Report recommends letting industry deal directly with city staff on issues
Allowing Calgary’s taxi industry direct access to administration instead of the existing Livery Transport Advisory Committee (LTAC) is at the heart of a recent governance review set to be presented to city councillors.
The report, one of several on Monday’s city council agenda, recommends the city fold the taxi advisory board and instead permit the industry to deal directly with city staff on livery issues, a move Coun. Ray Jones says isn’t the right one.
“When I first started this job, I used to get a lot of taxicab drivers on my doorstep,” he said.
“When we formed TLAC (LTAC predecessor Taxi and Limousine Advisory Committee) that stopped.”
The purpose of such committees, he said, was to get everybody at a single table to air their concerns and working together to hash out solutions.
LTAC acts as an advisory committee to council on issues relating to Calgary’s vehicle-for-hire industry, incorporating input from both companies and citizens.
The independent governance review, carried out by Ottawabased consulting agency Hara Associates, developed a number of options, with the recommended course of action being folding the committee altogether in favour of direct access to city managers, dealing with issues on a case-bycase basis.
The rationale behind this recommendation — one supported by administration — is the introduction of smartphone-dispatched ride-sharing services such as Uber, which the report suggests has resulted in an improvement of customer choice and increased flexibility for the entire industry.
Other options raised by the report include reducing the committee’s size, a solution Jones says makes the most sense.
“It could be cut down, but I think they need to keep the board,” he said.
“It’s great that they have a board where you’ve got administration, taxicab drivers and brokers all on the same page, talking and giving council recommendations.”
A unified voice, said Coun. Shane Keating, is the most efficient approach to ensuring the needs of the industry are met.
“By eliminating this, are we opening this up to multiple organizations coming forward to talk to council, rather than just one?” he said.
“Sometimes when you take an organized representative group away, you end up with everybody talking about the same thing — but doing things independently.”