Allowing taxis in diamond lanes will slow down buses, councillor says of ride-hailing changes
Winnipeg plans to allow taxis to drive in diamond lanes on a trial basis and it will charge vehicle-for-hire services such as Uber and Lyft a three-cent-a-ride surcharge in lieu of requiring drivers for these companies to install shields in their cars.
Mayor Brian Bowman announced the surcharge among other amendments to a package of vehicle-for-hire regulations that will come before city council on Wednesday and will take effect on March 1.
The surcharge, which Bowman said would raise about $45,000 a year, would fund safety-information education as well as a passenger rights and complaints program.
Bowman also proposed allowing taxis to drive in diamond lanes on a one-year trial basis, cancel plans to ban the transfer of existing taxi licences in 20 years and stagger the introduction of 120 new licences by introducing 60 in March and another 60 at the end of 2018.
The mayor said he proposed the changes to address concerns raised last week by the taxi industry.
"We've listened. I've had lots of discussion with my council colleagues. We're doing our best to address the concerns that were raised," Bowman said.
The new taxi licences will be introduced via a lottery system.
The proposed bylaw already includes new criminal and driving record background checks for taxi drivers and ride-hailing drivers, as well as drivers needing to submit a clean vulnerable person and child abuse registry searches.
Coun. Janice Lukes said the public works department has recommended against using diamond lanes for taxis twice in the past three years.
"The engineers do not recommend this because it will slow down buses," Lukes said. "The transit users are going to be paying the price of Uber coming to Winnipeg and buses will be even more off their schedules."
'We'll take crumbs because we're hungry'
Lukes said there are also safety issues for cyclists who use the lanes, and pointed to a city report from October that found most North American cities typically only allow taxis in diamond lanes on limited-access freeways, not on arterial roads.
"This crumb is being thrown at the taxi drivers to say, 'Look here, here's your diamond lane.' So for sure, for sure it will slow down transit for the upcoming year," she said.
Scott McFadyen, the head of the Winnipeg Community Taxi Coalition, said taxis are pleased with the changes.
"This really is the first sort of concession we've seen from [Bowman] throughout this process. So crumbs? Yes, at this stage of the game, we'll take crumbs because we're hungry," said McFadyen.
He said drivers still want to see enhanced safety requirements for drivers and passengers who use ride-hailing services, including driver shields and cameras.
'Womanizers and demons'
Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt said they do little to address taxi-industry concerns, while Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie said he's been getting messages from the public laden with unfair portrayals of taxi drivers, used to justify the introduction of competition.
"The emails I've seen of why we need to bring Uber in, it's insinuating that everyone that works in the traditional industry right now are what? Womanizers and demons and ugly, scruffy, smelly people in shabby cars," he said.
Councillors will vote on the changes at Wednesday's council meeting.
