The vehicle for hire bylaw in North Battleford has finally reached its destination.
Second and third reading took place at Monday night’s council meeting. The bylaw was approved unanimously by council.
Passage means ride-sharing services can now legally set up and operate in North Battleford, subject to the regulatory requirements spelled out in the new bylaw.
As well, the long-standing monopoly on the number of taxi licences issued by the city has been done away with, opening up the current licence holder, Crown Cab, to potential competition from other taxi or ride-share companies. The new bylaw states the numbers of taxis to be licensed is to be determined through the discretion of city council.
As part of the approval Monday, council also voted in favour of adopting a vehicle-for-hire policy, which outlines the process for approving taxi and transportation network licensing.
The policy answers concerns raised at the previous meeting about the process by which council would use its discretionary power to issue taxi or transportation network vehicle licences.
The policy outlines these provisions: if a new company comes in and purchases five or more licences, or if Crown Cab were to purchase an additional five or more, approval would be required from city council. If a company purchases four or less, those can be issued by administration.
Each additional approval would be followed up with reviews every six months for two years. Administration would meet with the companies and inquire about the new licences, and also reach out to the public and conduct a file review. This information would then be brought back to council to ensure the additional licences and potential new companies are staying within the regulations and operating with appropriate levels of service.
“It will modernize things for sure,” said Mayor Ryan Bater to reporters.
“The number five is significant because that would be a major shift and so it does require council consideration. We do have an interest in the liveability of the city and part of that is people’s ability to get around, and vehicles for hire are a big part of that. So it is something that we want to regulate though the bylaw, but we’ve really lifted a lot of those regulations, and so now the market’s a little more open than it used to be. And largely that’s due in part to transportation network vehicles and the impact they have on the industry.”
Business licences were also dealt with at Monday’s meeting. Administration had proposed setting the licence fee at the same level for taxis and for transportation network vehicles, but Councillor Kent Lindgren had inquired about whether other communities were doing the same.
In response, administration provided a comparison of what similar-sized communities were doing. Most, including Airdrie, Banff, Melfort, Winkler, Martensville and Portage la Prairie, do not have different licence fees. In Sylvan Lake and Banff, transportation network vehicles paid double the licence fee, but taxi licences were also set at a much lower level than the other communities.
That information was enough to satisfy Lindgren, who said he would support the bylaw as presented. Second and third reading sailed through unanimously.
Now the question becomes whether there is any actual change to be seen in North Battleford as far as taxi or transportation network vehicle competition. Despite the bylaw change Monday, Crown Cab remains the only taxi company licensed to operate in North Battleford, at least for the time being.
City administration also confirmed at their previous meetings they had received no applications from transportation network companies –such as Uber or Lyft – to operate in North Battleford.
Mayor Bater has previously tried to temper expectations about the new vehicle-for-hire bylaw, saying its approval did not mean competitors were coming in right away.
