Council approves amendments to taxi rates and regulations

By Lethbridge Herald on March 27, 2023.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Lethbridge city council is moving forward with a plan to remove regulared fares for taxis in the city. Administration has been tasked with providing a report to the Governance Standing Policy committee on taxi regulation by the third quarter of the year.

Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge city council has opened the door for city taxi companies to be more competitive with each other.

By a 7-1 vote council last week supported a motion to amend Bylaw 5658.

This bylaw calls for removal of regulated fares and charges for operation of taxi operators as well as any device associated with the fares. It also calls for the removal of a requirement for taxis to be equipped with a top light.

Administration will report to the Community Safety Standing Policy Committee of city council by the third quarter on the future of taxi regulation here. Taxi companies will be engaged as part of the report.

Last July, several cab companies made a formal request to council to request rate increases in the current bylaw.

The request stated that the previous increase was approved in 2017.

At the March 9 Community Safety Standing Policy committee meeting, a recommendation was made that city council approve the motion presented by deputy mayor Ryan Parker to remove the fares and requirement for a top light.

At the council meeting, acting mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel said “we discussed robustly at the last SPC allowing and discussing that the market should be permitted to dictate how taxis were run and that was why we came up with the discussion and with the decision that we did.”

Deputy mayor Ryan Parker stated “I remember trying to do this years ago and I’m glad administration came up with something that we could find a good compromise and I think that’s the power of the SPC. 

“The SPC gives an opportunity to speak to industry, to speak to our administration and ask the questions. I believe that there was a time and place for cities and municipalities to be in the business of helping regulate the industry but I always felt that over time that as industries change, with Uber and different business models, that its kind of archaic in the way we were doing things.

“We were telling businesses ‘this is the price you have to set, this is the minimum, this is the maximum.’ We don’t do that with any other industries. We don’t go to Safeway and say this is the cheapest you can charge for bread and this is the most you can charge for bread.

“So I felt it was time for us to evolve and change and I think the committee felt like that,” said Parker.

The reason for eliminating markings on top is because industry made clear it’s costly and there is damage that occurs to vehicles.

“That’s up to the private sector to decide how they market themselves,” he added.