City of Regina pulls back on plan for seasonal taxi licences

The discussion over seasonal taxi licences awarded by a lottery system in Regina revved up at city hall today, as councillors voted to refer the item back to administration. 

In June, city council voted in favour of issuing winter seasonal licences by a lottery system.

• Regina's city council decides to issue seasonal taxi licences by lottery 

The decision meant the licences, which are distributed in the wintertime, would go directly to drivers rather than to brokers who resell them to the drivers. 

Today the city's executive committee met to discuss amendments to the taxi bylaw.

After discussion from members of the public and taxi brokers, the city voted to refer the item back to administration as part of an ongoing Taxi Bylaw review.  

Heated discussion

The stands at the meeting were filled with people in the taxi industry. 

Sandy Archibald, manager of Regina Cabs, spoke to council about her frustration that there hasn't been adequate consultation on the matter. 

She said the industry has made business decisions based on how seasonal licences are currently distributed — to taxi brokers. 

She said council's decision was made in a hasty manner. 

Councillor Shawn Fraser disagreed. He said the city has been researching this issue for six years. He said the changes will help the taxi drivers. 

"There's a rent being charged for [the licences] and there's no real value added from that rent. If we can take that out of the equation it means we will have better service."

Taxi industry upset over referral

Leslie McNabb, who represents taxi drivers with the United Steelworkers Union, said today's decision to refer the item back to administration was ridiculous. 

"We went from city council passing it unanimously, to this happening. We were happy with the bylaw," McNabb said. 

"The brokerages have been taking every single penny from these drivers."

As a result of the decision, the seasonal licences will continue to be issued to brokerages for the 2016 year. 

McNabb said the brokers charge more than $2,000 to each driver and that it's hard for them to support their families.