Winnipeg council passes contentious bylaw; ride-hailing services could begin as early as March 1

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This article was published 12/12/2017 (2326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ride-hailing services are coming to Winnipeg.

In a 10-6 vote, council Wednesday approved the Vehicles For Hire bylaw that overhauls the regulation of the taxi industry and allows services like Uber and Lyft to start operation March 1.

“I am excited with the prospect of being able to effect positive change, change that many of our citizens have been asking for,” Mayor Brian Bowman said minutes before the vote took place.

The vote late Wednesday afternoon followed a marathon council session that was dominated with individual pleas by almost two dozen taxi drivers and owners to delay or scrap the contentious bylaw.

Local taxi industry spokesman Scott McFadyen said the result of the vote was disappointing but saw the amendments to the bylaw that were announced Monday as a concession by Bowman and the administration that the regulations were flawed.

McFadyen ruled out any possibility of a strike by the taxi industry, adding its drivers and owners planned to get back on the street and back to work.

“Our community taxi service is more than prepared to compete,” with the ride-hailing services, McFadyen said following the council vote. “There’s no possibility of us going on strike. This is our busy time of year. We need to make every dollar we can possibly make.

“No, absolutely not. The reputation of our industry is too important to bandy around with any sort of threat to strike or anything like that.”

Uber Canada spokesman Chris Schafer said he was pleased with the vote result, adding he expects Uber drivers to be on Winnipeg streets March 1.

“Winnipeggers today are going to be happy with the decisions made at council,” Schafer said. “Our goal is to be ready to go March 1.”

The bylaw was prompted by the Pallister government’s decision last March to bring more competition to the industry by disbanding the Manitoba Taxicab Board and turning over regulation, at least within Winnipeg, to city hall. Other municipalities already regulate the taxi industry in their own communities.

The legislature passed the enabling legislation Nov. 9 and set a deadline of March 1 for Winnipeg to take over regulation of the industry.

Edmonton was the first city in Canada to authorize ride hailing in March 2016 and that has been followed by Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, London, Hamilton, Waterloo and dozens of other communities.

Approval of the bylaw had been foreshadowed on Monday, when Bowman and members of his executive policy committee met behind closed doors for a series of amendments to the provisions that were first unveiled Nov. 29.

Going into the Wednesday meeting, it appeared Bowman had at least the nine votes needed to pass the bylaws. After the count, he had 10 votes.

Before the vote, Couns. Ross Eadie and Janice Lukes attempted to refer the issue back to EPC and the administration for further consultation with the local industry. But that attempt was defeated on a similar 10-6 vote.

Earlier in the day, the council rules were suspended to allow 19 drivers and owners to talk about the impact the change is going to have on their lives, what they said was the unfairness of the bylaw provisions, and the safety threat posed to ride-hailing drivers and their passengers if they’re not required to implement the same measures.

City officials estimate regulating the taxi industry will cost about $1.3 milliion annually, with those costs recovered from fees charged to the taxi industry and ride-hailing services, dubbed by the city as Personal Transportation Providers.

McFadyen, representing Unicity and Duffy’s, the two dominant taxi operations, presented councillors with data from recent polling that showed Winnipeggers overwhelmingly favour the same safety requirements imposed on ride-hailing services as the taxis must follow.

McFadyen repeated his complaint that Bowman and the city administration had rushed the bylaw, with Wednesday’s vote occurring only 13 days after the provisions were disclosed publicly.

“The city is requiring so much of the taxi industry and too little of Uber and the other companies,” McFadyen told council. “This is not a level playing field.”

The Uber and Lyft representatives insisted their companies don’t need the same safety provisions, explaining that their drivers don’t face the same threats because they don’t carry cash and the identities of their passengers is known in advance.

The taxi industry had been supported by two local Sikh organizations, which had sent letter to all members of council Tuesday calling on council to reject the bylawl on the grounds that it discriminates against its community members.

“The Sikh Society of Manitoba is writing to express our support to local taxi industry and its drivers who are either of Sikh faith or members of other minority groups,” wrote Sukhdev Singh Brar, president of the organization. “We have been apprised this this process (new taxi industry regulation) has been rushed through government with little consultation. This news is very distressing and we are concerned that this process is negligent of members’ interests and that their voices have not been properly heard.”

A national organization raised similar concerns.

“We write to you, and to all of City Council, to express our full support for the taxi industry in Winnipeg, Unicity Taxi, Duffy’s Taxi and the Winnipeg Community Taxi Coalition ahead of Wednesday’s critical vote that could devastate the industry as you introduce new ridesharing regulations,” wrote Simran Chattha, past chair and director of the Candian Sikh Association. “The manner in which these rules are being rushed and on which the consultations have occurred have been nothing short of draconian….Mr. Mayor and respected City Councillors, please vote NO to the regulations on Wednesday.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca