Regina's city council decides to issue seasonal taxi licences by lottery
Taxi drivers were all smiles following Monday's city council meeting
On Monday, Regina's city council voted unanimously to change the way they distribute seasonal taxi licences.
Seasonal licences will now be issued by a lottery system. This will mean the licences, that are distributed in the wintertime, will go directly to drivers rather than to brokers who resell them to the drivers.
The motion was brought forth by Ward 3 city councillor Shawn Fraser, who said the city's job is simply to regulate the industry.
"I think this is the fairest way to do that," Fraser said.
He argued the current distribution method was creating profit for another organization, which doesn't align with the role of regulation.
"The brokers we ... issue these to, turn around and charge, by my math, anywhere between 26 times and 37 times more than the price that we charge," Fraser said.
When presenting the motion, Fraser referenced the Regina Taxi Study, a report done by Tennessee Transportation & Logistics Foundation in 2010 on behalf of the City of Regina.
The report recommended seasonal licences be issued by lottery.
"I'm very much in favour of this," said Mayor Michael Fougere, as he urged councillors to support the motion.
Changes to the bylaw will appear at next month's council meeting. Another report on the Regina taxi industry is to be released in 2017.