City adjusts taxi cab fare caps
New caps on taxi fares are in place after council updated its Taxi Bylaw Tuesday, though one councillor wonders about the worth of the regulations.
Administrators and other councillors said licensing maintains public safety with background checks and business insurance, while private operators augment the public transportation system.
“I wonder why we’re regulating taxis at all,” said Coun. Jim Turner, who added his belief that the bylaw reduces competition, and ride-hailing services such as Uber are likely on the way.
“That’s what the world is coming to,” said Turner. “And it’s coming to the time when we (the city) get out of the way of competition.”
Adminstrators say they have had no indication that any company is planning such service for Medicine Hat.
The city last adjusted taxi rates in 2009, and staff say city is now setting a price ceiling rather than minimum fares. The change will allow two local taxi co-operatives to adjust rates against business conditions.
“We’ve followed best practice and set a maximum, which I think the public expects,” said Coun. Robert Dumanowski. “But we’re mostly staying out of it, letting business be business.
“It behooves us to have some regulation to ensure drivers are fit to be on the road.”
The new schedule, effective immediately, sees the drop rate remain at $3.50, with a two-cent increase to maximum distance rate (to 17-cents per 100 metres) and a seven-cent increase to wait time charges (to 57-cents per minute).
A new van rate, for cargo or five or more passengers, is equivelant, but with a $7 drop rate with the journey begins.
Ridings derided
The City of Medicine Hat’s opinion on proposed changes to provincial boundaries is in, and it’s not good.
A letter to the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission, presented to council on Tuesday, states the current layout is preferable to dividing southeast Alberta into three new ridings from two.
“They are looking for greater voter parity,” said Coun. Julie Friesen, who spoke to the letter that says larger ridings are problematic and will create and imbalance.
“It’s well-intentioned but there are other considerations that we wanted to make known.”
The letter argues that it is likely that rural residents near city limits would have an MLA based in Brooks or Taber, and that urban Albertans already enjoy a majority of the seats in the legislature.
An interim report suggests adding three new ridings in or near major cities while redrawing rural ridings to collapse three.
As such, Cypress County split into a north riding, including Redcliff and Brooks, and a south riding, including Dunmore, the Counties of 40 Mile, Taber and Vulcan in an expansive riding.
An urban Medicine Hat riding would remain.
Commission members specifically stated at the report’s release date that the local region’s population and geography made balancing numbers difficult without creating two urban-rural ridings that would split the city.
That idea was universally decried during tesitmony at hearings held in Medicine Hat over the winter.
The commission will hold a public meeting in Brooks on July 21.