Rate increase, car size and wait time rates were topic of discussion during a public meeting for the North Bay taxi industry Tuesday night.
“We asked that the Police Services Board who govern our industry review our rates on an annual basis, so we weren’t running back and fourth every time something went out of whack to address our needs as an industry,” explains John Strang owner of U-Need-A-Cab.
Six people attended the annual review at the police services building on Princess Street to talk about concerns and make recommendations for Police Chief Paul Cook to take back to the October 10th Police Services Board meeting.
“You heard some mixed input, you heard from one broker that said we should be looking at some changes to the bylaw including increases to tariff rates,” says Cook.
“And then you’ve heard from a broker/driver that if anything, we should be decreasing the rates. And I can tell you, in written form, we’ve heard from another broker in the city that’s advising that the rates should stay the same. So, we’ll provide the information as well as a comparative report and the board will use that to come to a decision.”
Strang said he was not asking the Chief for an increase this year, but strongly disagreed with the notion of lowering current rates, as gas is not the only factor when setting rates.
“The industry had asked the police services board for the last couple of bylaw changes to put in place a mechanism to address the cost of living,” Strang explained.
“It’s a welcomed review because again, we had asked for it as an industry. Gas is down today, or gas is down from what it was, but it jumped ten cents a litre today, so I mean that is just one operating cost we have as an industry. Again there are people out there who work in the industry but don’t have a full knowledge of all of the operating costs and gas is just one issue.”
Although Strang did not ask for meter increases, he did ask that the board to consider allowing the industry to move from full size vehicles to mid-size, increase the age limit on the vehicles and increasing wait time rates to $29.00 per hour from the current $23.50 per hour.
“We’re not here to ask for more money. The police are just honouring the wishes of the industry by resolution of having an annual review of the taxi industry,” states Strang.
Cook says the request to review the car size and age is of interest, as the service is currently examining all aspects of the industry for changes.
“Sgt. Seguin and Ms. Scully, who is the city prosecutor, have been looking at a review of the bylaw in its entirety and that was going to be presented to the board. So certainly hearing form the industry in relation to those types of changes, we appreciate their input."
"I can tell you from a safety perspective, we meet with the various drivers and have them bring their vehicles in for inspection three times a year. So even extending the bylaw from eight years to ten years on a vhehicle, as long as we’re continuing to do those annual safety checks, I think we’ll be fine," he says.
The board will make their final decision at the next meeting.
