After failing to pass third reading when it was initially presented to Airdrie City council May 2, amendments to the City’s Taxi Bylaw were approved at council’s May 16 meeting by a vote of seven to one.
Councillor Allan Hunter voted against the amendments and gave no reason for his decision. He did not return requests for comment by press time.
Changes to the transportation network company section of the Taxi Bylaw have been proposed and are currently with the City’s legislative services department, according to Colleen Kinley, chief license inspector with the City. These changes would allow ride-for-hire businesses – such as Uber – to operate in Airdrie. The changes are expected to come to council in September.
Kinley said the proposed changes would include as many things as staff could think of to ensure the playing field was fair to taxi brokers.
Mohammed Benini, owner of Cowboy Taxi, spoke to council during Public Question Period and said he was not in favour of a requirement in the bylaw that taxis be painted one colour per company because each vehicle will be individually identified by a numbered sticker.
Kinley said the issue has been discussed with all the taxi brokers in the city. The requirement to paint all cars for one brokerage the same colour was in the original bylaw but was not enforced because the City recognized it was an expense for brokers.
“At Mr. Benini’s insistence, we started to enforce it,” Kinley said, adding it was difficult for passengers to remember which company they used because the numbers are hard to see at night. “The easiest thing for the public is a colour.”
Owner of Yellow Cabs and Alliance Cabs in Airdrie, Taimour Baig, also spoke to council during the Public Question Period and said he would prefer companies be allowed to set their own rates, rather than having fixed rates set in the bylaw.
“We would like to see that change. If any ride sharing company comes in, how will we be able to compete with them if our hands are tied on rates,” he said. “I think the rate mechanism should be decided by the individual company.”
Kinley said staff surveyed all the taxi brokers and the majority supported the tax rates as currently set.
“I got 12 brokerages representing 24 vehicles voted ‘Yes, we want the rates to stay the same.’ Four brokerages representing 14 vehicles voted no. They would like to see the regulations the same as Calgary,” she said.
Calgary recently amended their taxi bylaw to de-regulate rates.
“We have had three meetings with the brokerages asking that exact question and the majority of the brokers (supported keeping things as they are),” Kinley said.
Councillor Fred Burley said he would support what the industry indicated they wanted.
“The majority of the taxi industry wants to remain the way they are. I respect Taimour’s comments about it, but it’s 57 per cent of the cabs and 63 per cent of the broker firms are in favour of maintaining what we have now,” he said. “They run their business. They know what works best for them and, as the industry, I think we have to respect that.”
