Uber on its way: Saskatoon city council passes Ridesharing bylaw

Saskatoon passes ridesharing bylaw The City of Saskatoon has passed its ridesharing bylaw following provincial approval earlier this month. Francois Biber explains.

Councillors vote 8-2 in favour of allowing Ridesharing companies to set up in the City of Bridges

As quickly as the city of Saskatoon receives an application for a ridesharing license will determine how fast you can hop into your first Uber.

On Monday Saskatoon City Council passed its ridesharing bylaw 8-2, meaning Saskatoon is open for businesses such as Uber and Lyft to set up shop.

The city’s Transportation Network Company (TNC) Bylaw is a framework developed by city officials to regulate the number of ridesharing vehicles, the fares they can charge and regulations around drivers looking to operate under the TNC bylaw.

Under the proposed bylaw, rideshare vehicles will be mandated to start the fares at $3.75, the same for taxis, but how fares look at the end of the trip could vary. As it stands there is no limit to how many TNC licenses the city will doll out, something the current taxi industry wasn’t fond of.

Carlo Triolo is the general manager of the three Saskatoon taxi brokerages. He told council he’s worried that the TNC bylaw regulations are much too loose and he asked for more regulation for the rideshare companies.

He called the TNC bylaw unfair to the current taxi drivers and companies. He told council it’s likely that cabbies in the city will simply take off their signs, their debit machines and operate under the TNC bylaw.

In total 16 speakers walked up to the podium in council chambers to voice their support and concerns over the proposed bylaw. Councillors Hillary Gough and Bev Dubois put forth a motion to defer the decision on this bylaw until February, citing that administration and council were rushing to push this bylaw through in an attempt to have it in force this holiday season.

“The more we debate this issue the more I feel sick,” Gough said.

In the end council did approve the bylaw and that means ridesharing is allowed to operate in Saskatoon.

Mayor Charlie Clark told reporters the first rideshare vehicle could be coming soon, but it’s ultimately up to the service providers on how quickly they apply for a license.

City administration said they could hand out licenses under the TNC bylaw the same day they receive the application.

Taxi report shows industry serving majority of call within 10 minutes

Saskatoon would need 384 taxis on the road during peak times to service the high volume of calls, while only 12 taxis are needed during peak lows, according to a city administration report.

Under the proposed bylaw, rideshare vehicles will be mandated to start the fares at $3.75, the same for taxis, but how fares look at the end of the trip could vary.

A report submitted to council by the taxi industry paints a picture showing Saskatoon is already well-served with the current taxi companies.

Looking at data collected by local taxi brokerages, the report shows there are 210 taxi licenses in Saskatoon, 24 of which are seasonal licenses. All are permitted to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Despite the size of the taxi fleet, data collected between September 2017 and June 2018 show the average fleet size on the road at any given time was only 118, about 56 per cent of the overall fleet size.

The city says 81 per cent of calls are answered within 10 minutes and two per cent of callers wait 20 minutes or longer.

Because the demand for taxis differs throughout the year and the time of day, the report says 384 taxis would be required on the streets to get to every call within the 10-minute industry standard.

The report adds 12 taxis would be enough to service the city during low peaks.

In an attempt to strike a balance, the city says 215 taxis would be enough to service about 95 per cent of calls with the target of answering calls for service within 10 minutes or less.