THUNDER BAY – Two years after starting the process of changing oversight of the local taxicab industry from the police service to the city, progress is slow but finally starting to be made.
Coun. Brian McKinnon, who chairs a taxi subcommittee, on Tuesday told the Thunder Bay Police Service Board he isn’t ready to put a timeline on when to expect the completed bylaw.
Since early 2014, efforts have been made by both police service and city officials to modernize the regulations governing local taxi companies. It has been a lengthier process than expected, with nearly 20 meetings taking place in the past couple of years.
“We do have a rough draft and what we’re doing now is going through each of the sections and what we’re finding from the first draft is when we come across something we’re not sure if it’s going to work or not there’s a lot of follow up work,” McKinnon said in an interview following the meeting.
Transferring oversight to the city would bring Thunder Bay more in line with other Ontario municipalities, as this is one of the last to still be under the authority of the police service.
McKinnon said the local process is looking at bylaws of other cities in the province, with Burlington as a close parallel.
One recent obstacle has been the increasing popularity of ridesharing services, such as Uber, and how to address where they fit with traditional taxi services.
“We have to address those people as well, it’s not just the two big companies we have,” he said. “They are going to continue to grow so we have to have the answers for how we deal with those.”
There are so many variables and unanswered questions from the new ridesharing services that have to be answered with any new regulations.
“We want to protect the public. That’s really what it comes down to. What about insurance? What about the cab itself or if it’s a private citizen’s car? Is it roadworthy, is it safe? Is it clean? Is the person driving it also safe?” McKinnon said.
“All of those are things we’re hoping to address in this bylaw.”
McKinnon is cautiously optimistic a final draft could be completed by the end of the year, though he would not commit to that timeline. He previously said in June 2014 a bylaw was a few months away at that time.
