No cab shortage in Calgary: report

A new report suggests an exclusive taxi contract at Calgary International Airport has meant 200 more cabs on city streets.

Associated Cab won the right in June to provide taxi service from the airport.

Before that, long lines of taxis waited at the airport sometimes for hours to pick up fares.

Getting those cabs away from the airport has improved service all over the city, said Dan Hara, the consultant who wrote the report for the city's taxi and limousine advisory committee.

"Before — it sounds good, but it's not really good — the airport ran out of taxis even in the worst weather. Now, every other airport has a little bit of a wait when it gets bad," Hara said.

Calgary is still short on cabs on weekend nights when the bars close and during the Christmas party season, Hara said, but adding more cab licenses isn't an effective solution.

'There's no shortage, there's no problem.' — Roger Richard, Associated Cab

Roger Richard, president of Associated Cab, agreed that there are more than enough cabs on city streets.

Apart from times of extreme weather or for a brief interval during bar closing, he said, "You can get a cab anywhere, any time in the city."

"There's no shortage, there's no problem," Richard said.

Richard said he was impressed that the city was weighing a "soft closing" for bars, where individual bars could elect to stay open but not serving alcohol until 4 a.m.

"That would give us a bigger window," he said.

Associated Cab added about 110 taxis to their fleet when they received the airport contract, meaning they now have a fleet of more than 500 vehicles, Richard said.

He estimated that there were about 350 cabs working the airport prior to Associated Cab's exclusive contract.

Cabbie Abdi Barie said the airport contract has created a monopoly and should be ripped up.

"Other drivers should have a right to park there," Barrie said. "It's not fair."

While sympathetic, the chairman of the city's transportation committee said the contract is working.

"Some are benefiting more than others, of course. They all had an opportunity to quote on the request for proposals by the airport," said Ward 10 Ald. Andre Chabot.

"It's certainly increased the capacity within the city, so from our perspective, from the city's perspective, it is definitely beneficial."