British Columbians will finally get a road map to the implementation of ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft on Monday.
That’s when the province says Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Claire Trevena will introduce the Passenger Transportation Amendment Act, described as “government’s next step to enable ride-hailing in British Columbia.”
The governing New Democrats had promised the legislation would be introduced before month’s end, but said it would first roll out an additional 500 taxi licenses across the province.
Vancouver is the largest city in North America without ridesharing services, a fact that has drawn growing frustration from critics.
The NDP campaigned on having the service in place by Christmas 2017.
In Oct. 2017, however, it pushed that timeline back, abd instead commissioned a report by industry expert Dan Hara to review the taxi industry and develop a “made in B.C. solution.”
That report, made public in July, recommended boosting the number of taxis on the road by 15 per cent, eliminating municipal boundaries for cabs and allowing discounts for taxi rides ordered through an app.
Even with the new legislation in place, ridesharing services likely won’t be in place until at least fall 2019.
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