Taxi industry review to take six months

Unicity Taxi is threatening not to attend nightclubs in downtown Winnipeg if they don't get a meeting with the mayor or Winnipeg police.

The province and the Taxicab Board are reviewing the taxi industry in Winnipeg over the next six months.

"It's an industry that's gone through a lot of dynamic change over the last few years," said Taxicab Board spokesperson Luc Lewandoski.

The review is looking into six areas:

- Supply and demand for each class of taxi services

- Fare structure and charges

- Customer service, satisfaction and consumer protection

- Safety, security and accessibility

- New technologies and services

- Licensing requirements, standards, training and procedures

The review will start by analyzing the current models, as well as researching the best practices in regulating taxicabs.

After that, the public, businesses and those working in the industry will be asked for their input.

"We're confident this review will fairly assess that we are correct, that you need to have insured and licensed drivers that are doing ride-for-hire," said Lewandoski.

One man who regulary takes taxis to and from work says he likes the service. "I think these guys are pretty good, actually. I don't prefer Uber and those kinds of services. I trust these people," he said.

The review will be looking at other North American cities that have ridesharing services like Uber and see how they are dealing with them.

"And we'll ask the question about whether there is something going on which is helpful or not helpful here," said Taxicab Board Chair David Sanders.

"We are very much hopeful that this study will give us not only up-to-date facts on which to make decisions, but hopefully some models we can use to update and make those decisions going forward in a rational and transparant way," said Sanders.

The goal of the review is to put together a list of recommendations for the Taxicab Board to ensure the industry is safe, accessible and economical into the future.

The review is being conducted by accounting law firm MNP LLP.

One taxi driver CTV spoke to doesn't think the city needs any more taxis. "We have enough cabs in the city, we have no need for other cabs here...because we are averaging now more than two hours (between fares)," said D.C. Dullat.