Taxi drivers plead poverty, oppose city plan to allow extra 122 cabs on the streets f
 

Proposal aimed at meeting increased demand from tourism and 2010 Games
Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, March 20, 2009

Vancouver taxi drivers are urging city hall to reject a plan to allow another 122 taxicabs on city streets, saying the competition will kill their already ailing business.

Drivers say they are reeling from the recession, which has led to a drop in paid fares and their incomes falling.

A city recommendation to increase the number of taxi licences, they say, will hurt even more.
Black Top manager Carolyn Bauer said she has a petition signed by more than 500 taxi drivers -- and the list is growing, given that many drivers are making less than minimum wage.

"Cars are parked everywhere, we're not even included in the Olympic transportation plan," she said.

"We've lost Carnival Cruise Lines; that's nine ships. There's so many people feeling this, it's so slow."

A city staff report recommended last October that the number of taxi cab licences in the city be increased by 122 for 2008-09 to meet the increasing population and growth in tourism, as well as demand for services during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The proposal has the support of Tourism Vancouver, which says more taxi services are needed for the Winter Olympics and in 2011 when the city will host several conferences.

Katie Emery, destination developer for Tourism Vancouver, said Vancouver has fewer cabs per capita than other Canadian cities, and people are often left waiting for service.

It's important to get the licences out now, she said, given the lag time between when a licence is applied for and when a cab actually gets on the road.

"We're looking long-term," Emery said.

"We're empathetic with the drivers facing tough times ... but we want to make sure the licences are distributed."

But Bauer said enough cars are already out there and drivers are sitting idle. She said even if there were thousands of taxis in Vancouver, there would still be a crunch on Friday and Saturday nights.

She noted TransLink doesn't run buses or SkyTrain late on the weekends to ferry people home, which would help ease the waits.

"It can't always be pressure against the taxi industry, that we're the bad ones here," she said.

Tom Hammel, of the city's licensing department, said a final recommendation will go to the city on May 5. He said the city has had two meetings with the taxi industry and Tourism Vancouver.

"There's a difference of opinion in terms of what should be recommended," he said.

"We're looking at the different options."

give me a break. theres no way theyre broke when a freakin cab from richmond to downtown costs 50 bucks.

1 : Will there be enough cabs to service 2010 at its current levels ? Doubtful

2: If , hypothetically speaking, the extra 122 were approved, how many cabbies will deny service if someone wants to travel from downtown to surrey , langley, abbotsford?

Ive heard tons of stories about people not being able to catch a cab home because they dont want to stray from the downtown core.

haha i have a few of those stories myself

maybe it's time to learn to speak english and get a real job.

taxis are just way too overpriced here.

hahaha yee
they should just move to NY

nice one :thumbsup:

Well for one, I think if they would stop rejecting certain rides because of distance or time, then I would think there wouldn't be so many taxi cabs sitting idle or empty.

i think there should be regulations regarding rejections of rides......

totally, if the # of cabs were okay - weekends shouldn't automatically mean we're all waiting 30 fuckn minutes. IVe also had a llot of cabbies just leave after seeing it was a group of guys.

ya, esp downtown at night, these cab drivers all think that they get to pick their customers as opposed to customers picking them. yet they complain about revenues.

Increase the supply of cabs and cut down fares. If cab drivers aren't making money, they'd stop driving cabs!

What they need to do is make it that cabs can pick up return fares in different regions. If a cab takes someone from Downtown to Surrey, he has to drive empty back to Vancouver before he can pick up another fare. That's why he rejects that fare, because he is basically doing it at half price.

they should do it like HK. you have taxi spots that designate where their final location will be.

Say you have a taxi stop, like a bus loop. in the taxi loop, there are spots for taxi's to wait, those spots designate they are heading towards, downtown, or new west, or burnaby, or wherever!

There will always be certain areas that always go to a certain location, say surrey to downtown, or vice versa!

Vancouver is so fucking backwards in its planing that when u visit any other country, you really see what smart ppl can actually come up with!

and yes, i have my own stories of needing to catch a cab from downtown back to new west for work and being told BS stories "my car cant handle the trip" or shit like that.

best one was when the cabby said his car cant handle the trip, but his displayed DL had his "surrey,bc" displayed (he had a plastic plate of sorts that was blocking the rest of his address on his DL.

dont compare vancouver's transportation system to hongkong. we're literally 50 years behind.

^ exactly. 50 years ago I believe parking on the roadside is free in HK too. Do you want to pay for parking?

ahhh i remmeber cab #420.. good times

what about that one cab that had spinners and shit is that still around?

You can still park your motorcycle for free!

QFT.

i already pay for parking everyday. thanks for completely missing my point.