Saskatoon councillors to consider new rules, regulations for ride-hailing services

After almost two years of ride-hailing services like Uber operating in Saskatoon, councillors are taking another look at how the companies are regulated.

On Monday, councillors will be provided with 12 different options for increased regulations, including placing a cap on the number of ride-hailing cars in the city, requiring in-vehicle cameras and requiring ride-hailing drivers to get a city driving licence — like taxi drivers do.

The options came out of a year-long consultation process with taxi cab owners, the United Steelworkers — which represents some taxi drivers in the city — taxi brokerage companies and Uber, the only ride-hailing company currently in business in the city.

"[Council] asked that we conduct a review and just make sure that the regulations that they had put in place were treating both types of services as fairly as possible," said Jo-Anne Richter, director of community standards with the City of Saskatoon.

Since ride-hailing companies were allowed to operate in the province, taxi companies have complained that they are regulated more than ride-hailing companies.

During the consultation process, cab companies complained they were being held to a higher standard than Uber, and argued that the rules should be the same for both businesses.

Meanwhile, Uber balked at many of the proposed regulations, noting that many of them did not exist in any other Canadian city — including caps on the number of ride-hailing cars and for companies to have a locally-based office in Saskatoon.

Out of the lengthy list of options, administration is only recommending that the maximum age of a taxi be increased from seven years to 10 years, and for a wheelchair accessible taxi to be increased from nine years to 10 years, to coincide with ride-hailing regulations.

The City said these recommendations would make the playing field more level, while unsafe vehicles would be caught during inspections.

"All the stakeholders either supported the proposal or had no opposition to the proposed change," said Richter.

"We don't feel that there's any significant concerns with moving to increasing the maximum age of a taxi."

There are 160 permanent taxi licences that have been issued by the city, along with 35 enterprise taxi licences, 26 wheelchair accessible taxi licences and four licensed taxi brokers.

The issue will go before the Standing Policy Committee on Transportation on Monday.