Photo by Curtis Galbraith

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

New city by-law would allow ride-sharing services in Grande Prairie

Jul 10, 2019 | 5:30 AM

City Hall is looking at new regulations that would allow services like Uber to operate in Grande Prairie.

The new vehicle for hire by-law would not only govern taxis and limousines, but also ride sharing and designated driver services.

Ride sharing services are not allowed currently under any city by-law. The others are permitted.

Director of Protective and Social Services Chris Manuel says the industry has changed and this will allow the industry to be more competitive and responsive to the community.

“Technically, right now, ride shares kind of fall outside of the existing regulations. So, although they can’t cross into what a taxi would traditionally do, we actually have nothing that regulates them at all in the city. So, this is just going to essentially level that playing field a little bit and introduce some regulatory requirements.”

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He adds the designated driver services that are already operating in Grande Prairie should not see a big change.

“A lot of them are, frankly, kind of self governing, with many of the requirements that we would put in play. But, it is just reinforcing that there is consistency amongst them (and) also ensuring that we’re not holding one group to a much higher standard than another.”

Manuel says they will be doing consultations with people in these businesses over the summer.

“This is a draft, so over the coming weeks and month, we will be reaching out to our industry stakeholders to get their feedback and comments regarding this. We’ll also circulate information publicly as well. Hopefully this fall, we’ll return to committee with some adjustments based off the stakeholder feedback.”

Manuel says the new by-law would come into effect January 1, 2020 if all goes well.