Vehicle for Hire bylaw regulating decals passes at Edmonton city council

Edmonton city council has approved the Vehicle for Hire bylaw, allowing it to regulate competing sides of the industry.

“When we’ve got Uber on one side saying it’s good, and you’ve got the taxi cab on the other side saying we’re satisfied I think we’ve made some progress,” said Councillor Mike Nickel.

READ MORE: Transit union fighting the ‘Uberization’ of Edmonton transit

The revised bylaw accounts for decals on vehicles, which was a big bone of contention because it meant fears that people would try hailing these ride share vehicles as if they were cabs, which is illegal.

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Eventually small decals on the front and rear of the car was agreed to, to give comfort to riders, while allowing city staff to enforce the rules. Livia Balone, the city’s director of development and zoning, said an Insight poll found that 82 per cent wanted the decals so they’d know what to expect from an Uber ride.

“On the app, there’s a picture of the driver and identification about the type of vehicle,” Balone explained.

“But people don’t necessarily know a Nissan Rogue or whatever, so usually when they see the marking that’s what they see first and they can open the door and make sure that the picture matches the app.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "But people don't necessarily know a Nissan Rogue or whatever, so usually when they see the marking that's what they see first and they can open the door and make sure that the picture matches the app."

City staff will track violations for hailing and report back to city council if there is a problem with the vehicle markings.

Fines are dramatically increased under the new bylaw to cover off street hailing, said Nickel.

“This will empower actual peace officers to go on private property and they’re not just restricted to public property,” he said about another way the changes create a level playing field between ride shares and taxis.

“For example if there’s a shopping mall or a particular bar sight, we couldn’t get access under the previous bylaw because they were city officials. Peace officers have different abilities and that’s the big change here, so that’s why we need to see these decals.”

“Because the way this has all played out over the last couple of years, we have a real trust issue between all players. The biggest complaint we got from both sides was about enforcement and how to go about it.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Because the way this has all played out over the last couple of years, we have a real trust issue between all players. The biggest complaint we got from both sides was about enforcement and how to go about it."