The North Bay Police Board says, as of now, there is nothing stopping a ride share program from setting up shop in North Bay as soon as today.
Dennis O’Connor is the police board chair. He says the board hired a consulting firm over a year ago to look into the taxi bylaw and how it would fit with ride share programs.
“As of now our bylaw does not cover ride share as such, it is basically just taxis,” stated O’Connor after Tuesday’s Police Board meeting at police headquarters this morning.
“We can’t stop anybody who decides they want to start a ride-sharing program. The only thing we remind people is, we are going to come out with a bylaw and that may affect somebody who is just starting up a program and you remember you still have to have insurance and background checks and everything else. So no, we do not have the authority to stop them.”
The Police Board has been overseeing taxi licensing for more than 30 years. In many municipalities that role is the hands of the city council.
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O’Connor says they are working on creating a bylaw which will be similar to the taxi bylaw but will regulate ride share programs.
Before that, the board will receive another report from the consulting firm. They also plan to coordinate a number of public meetings relating to the subject.
“We need an open forum to hear the feedback from the public and of course the stakeholders which are the taxi companies and what their concerns are,” said O’Connor.
O’Connor also will not comment on how they will manage to oversee rates for both taxis and a rideshare program.
“We are not there yet with our knowledge for what the rates should be set at. We need more information,” he said.
O’Connor is optimistic that through the process the board will have something in place by the fall of 2019.
