Ride-hailing is not in the cards for this holiday season but the Tri-Cities is getting ready for the service.
Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody are developing an inter-municipal business licence that would regulate how services such as Uber and Lyft operate across their boundaries and could, if approved by all three cities, be in place by this spring.
Tuesday, PoCo council took steps towards approving an inter-municipal business licence bylaw that would see fees charged to ride-hailing companies; Port Moody is to consider the bylaw, possibly next week.
Coquitlam, which would collect the fees and get more of the money in a 40-30-30 split because of the work, is reportedly considering the plan as well. (A report will be presented to Coquitlam council Dec. 8).
“Absent agreement on a regional business licence, the next best thing is to expand on the good work that’s taken place between Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and Coquitlam,” Mayor Brad West told his colleagues at a council-in-committee meeting.
West said the goal is to put in place a licensing structure that wouldn’t be an obstacle to ride-hailing companies and enable the three cities to have something in place because it could take a year or two to get Lower Mainland mayors to agree on a broader plan.
Under the Tri-City plan, operators would be charged an annual licence fee — $1,000 for companies with zero to 25 vehicles, $2,500 for companies with 25 to 100 vehicles and $5,000 for companies with more than 100 vehicles. In addition, 10 cents would be charged for every trip originating in the Tri-Cities, except for those by accessible and zero-emission vehicles.
Councillors said companies operating in the Tri-Cities would be charged less than what Vancouver has approved.
In that city, ride-hailing operators will pay a $100 per-car annual fee plus 30 cents for every pick-up and drop-off between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and additional trip surcharges for pick-ups and drop-offs in the downtown core. That’s on top of a 30-cent-per-trip fee the provincial government is requiring to pay for accessibility.
“It’s what our residents would expect — local governments cooperating with a uniform set of regulations and not an obstacle to the viability of the service,” West said.
PoCo councillors also called for an update to taxi licensing requirements to make sure they are on par with those for ride-hailing. Currently, taxi companies operating in PoCo pay $75 per car up to $3,000.
“We need to move quickly as possible to be parallel with the taxi industry,” said Coun. Darrell Penner. “They shouldn’t have to pay more or less than these guys.”
West said ride-hailing will fill the gap left vacant by the lack of SkyTrain services in PoCo, but some councillors suggested people who use the service may face sticker shock because of surge pricing at busy times.
Coun. Steve Darling said he missed a baseball game in the U.S. because he would have been charged $195 to get to the stadium while Coun. Dean Washington said ride-hailing would most likely be used on weekends and holidays, with taxis continuing to give rides during the week and early in the morning.
West said he hopes a regional licence could still be achieved for all of Metro Vancouver and said mayors have indicated they want a seamless structure for governing ride-hailing services.
Still with Vancouver having a different rate structure, “we’re adding a very important counterbalance to what Vancouver is doing,” West said.
Public input for the proposed the inter-municipal bylaw to accommodate ride-hailing is expected to take place in Port Coquitlam in January, after council gives three readings to the bylaw.
