City of Kamloops awaits ride-hailing approval in the region

KAMLOOPS – If you don’t have a car, there are only a few ways to get around in Kamloops. If you don’t want to walk or bike, public transit is essential. However, if you need to travel outside of transit hours, cabs have been the only option. Now that ride-hailing has come to B.C., that could change.

“First of all, I think it’s taken far too long. It can’t come to Kamloops soon enough, from my perspective,” Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian told CFJC Today. “The taxi industry has done a good job to this point, but they can’t handle the kind of traffic need we have here. In the meantime, people aren’t getting to their destinations.”

“At this time, there’s still six other applicants out there with the board. It still has to be decided whether they’re going to operate in Region 4, in which Kamloops is included,” City of Kamloops Business License Inspector Dave Jones explained.

Jones sits on a task force, which provides input to the province and the Passenger Transportation Board. He understands there are still some wrinkles that need to be ironed out with ride-hailing, but says the city is ready to work with any companies who receive approval to operate in the region.

“From the City of Kamloops’ perspective, we will take any [business license] applications that we receive,” Jones explained. “[The applicant] would be charged a normal taxi business license fee.”

CFJC Today reached out to both Kamloops cab companies for interviews. Yellow Cabs did not respond to our request, and Kami Cabs sent an email, outlining their concerns. Like other taxi organizations in the province, Kami Cabs says they’re concerned with what they feel is inequality when it comes to Transportation Network Services, which is what the province calls ride-hailing services like Uber or Lyft.

Issues like fleet size regulation, pricing models, passenger accessibility, safety, and enforcement are the significant concerns Simar Vijay Singh, General Manager of Kami Cabs outlined in his email to CFJC Today.

Jones says from his understanding, some of those issues will be addressed by how these ride-hailing companies are structured.

“In most cases, I understand that the drivers will operate for themselves,” Jones explained. “Each one of those drivers will need a business license. At this point in time, because there has been no approval from the board, we haven’t had any applications or inquiries about what is going to be required of the driver or the company.”

There are still some significant issues that the province needs to address when it comes to ride-hailing, including a judicial challenge and one B.C. mayor’s apparent vendetta against the service. Despite those issues, the Mayor of Kamloops believes there’s a place for ride-hailing in our city.

“We want to ensure there are options available,” Christian said. “We invest heavily in the transit system here, we support the cab companies, and we’d support ridesharing when it comes.”