Today, the Surrey Board of Trade is pleased that the Passenger Transportation Board has consulted with industry stakeholders and provided positive rules for ride-hailing services in BC. The BC Government will begin accepting applications on September 3, 2019 from companies seeking to provide commercial ride-hailing in BC.
“However, the Surrey Board of Trade is disappointed that Class 4 licence requirements continue to be a part of the regulation. This needs to be revisited by government to enable full market participation,” said Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade.
“Surrey, who has been starved of transit and transportation options, needs no restrictions on ride-hailing services and to those that want to participate, to give our business community and residents travel options.”
“The Surrey Board of Trade wants to see a level playing field for the taxi industry as well. That has always been a part of our ride-hailing industry position. The BC Government should open up municipal boundaries for all taxi companies in Metro Vancouver.”
The new regulations include:
- No limit on the ride-hailing fleet size, however, the Passenger Transportation Board says they may re-evaluate caps in the future.
- Ride-hailing companies cannot pick up around Canada Place during cruise ship days. There will be a staging area nearby.
- Flag rates for ride-hailing will be the same as taxi. That means the minimum rate will be same as getting into a cab. There will be no caps on rates which means ride-hailing companies can still use surge pricing. Rideshare companies won’t be able to use coupons or discount codes to reduce rates.
- Large regional boundaries for ride-hailing companies. Metro Vancouver is a region and vehicles can drop off outside of their boundaries but cannot pick up.
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PTB Rules: https://www.ptboard.bc.ca/ documents/Introduction%20of% 20Transportation%20Network% 20Services.pdf
