Taxi drivers consider court challenge over rules
Members will meet to discuss next move in effort to change operational policies
Members of the B.C. Taxi Association will meet today to decide whether to pursue legal action over policies the Passenger Transportation Board has put in place for ride-hailing companies.
The move comes just two days after the Vancouver Taxi Association’s (VTA) nine member companies filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court to have a judge review and strike down the operational policies.
“There are thousands of families that depend directly on the taxi industry for their livelihood in Metro Vancouver and other parts of B.C.,” said B.C. Taxi Association president Mohan Kang. Although it remains to be discussed by his members, Kang expects the association to turn to the courts to fight the new rules. Although his association is working with the VTA on a number of common issues, he said it will not join the VTA’s petition.
The VTA filed its petition in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Wednesday, alleging the board did not have the authority to set rules on fleet sizes, pricing and boundaries for ride-hailing companies. In particular, it takes issue with the lack of a cap on vehicles and the ability for ride-hailing companies to set lower rates.
It called the policies unfair, unreasonable and arbitrary, and is asking a judge to quash the board’s decision.
The Passenger Transportation Board has 21 days to respond.
Lawyer Peter Gall, who represents the VTA, said he will seek an early hearing on the merits of the petition. If a hearing date cannot be secured quickly, Gall said it’s likely the association will seek an injunction, so the board can’t approve any licences before the petition is heard.
Passenger Transportation Board chairwoman Catharine Read said that, for now, the board will proceed with considering passenger transportation licence applications from ride-hailing companies.
“We’re just going to keep proceeding and hopefully get our decisions made,” said Read.
She said the Passenger Transportation Branch has forwarded four applications to the board for consideration and more are waiting to be reviewed by the branch.
She declined to say which companies they were from, but Uber and Lyft previously confirmed that they have applied. Read said the applications have arrived faster than expected, and the rough estimate of six to eight weeks for the board to render a licensing decision remains in place.
Both the premier and the transportation minister said that while the court petition is a board issue, they do not expect the timeline for ride-hailing to change, and that vehicles should be on the road by the end of this year.
The legal action comes amid allegations that the provincial government is trying to interfere in the independent board’s business.
Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff met with taxi companies Aug. 30, and this week the premier wrote a letter to the Vancouver Taxi Association to assure its members of the government’s “continued commitment to minimize negative effects on the taxi sector” as ride-hailing is introduced.
Horgan specifically mentioned concerns about the lack of a cap on fleets. He said on Thursday that he wrote the letter to show that he was paying attention.
“My job, and the job of my staff, is to be open and accessible to the public, to hear what they have to say and then to articulate back to them that we understand their concerns, and that’s why I wrote the letter,” Horgan said.
Transportation Minister Claire Trevena sent a letter to the board outlining concerns about fleet sizes and urged the board to review the policy as soon as possible, something the board said it would likely do once it has collected performance data. Trevena said in the letter that it was not meant to be a policy directive, a point she reiterated to media on Thursday.
“I have absolute respect for the Passenger Transportation Board and their ability to make independent decisions, but as minister I’ve heard from stakeholders, from mayors, from others some concerns and I relayed that information to them, but in doing that underlining my support for their decision,” Trevena said.
When asked if the letter from Trevena encroaches on the board’s independence, Read said it does not.
“The minister made it clear that it was not general policy direction, which she is entitled to give us under the legislation. I view that as the minister has the right to express the views that she’s heard, and she’s just relaying those views to us for our information,” Read said.
B.C. Liberal MLA Peter Milobar, who was on an all-party committee that made recommendations on ride-hailing, called the letters “completely inappropriate.”
“It’s total interference, and it’s unacceptable,” he said.
Milobar said the court petition communicates the frustration that the taxi industry is feeling.
“They seem to feel they were promised action by the government. What those promises were or how those came about, no one’s really sure yet,” Milobar said.
“I think they’re trying anything they can to convey that to government, that they’ve been totally betrayed.”