The Manitoba Taxi Cab Board says the deadline to have new shields installed in cabs has been put on hold after an engineer’s report found safety concerns with one of the shields being proposed.
"There were some concerns expressed in terms of the relative safety of the shields," said Transportation Minister Steve Ashton.
The province ordered the report after cab companies complained the L-shaped barrier could put jeopardize the safety of drivers.
Ashton won’t say what is in the report but he says the findings suggest more time is needed to resolve some of the concerns.
"I think it will take some time to deal with these issues,” said Ashton. “They’re fairly complex."
The Taxi Cab Board confirmed the deadline will be extended until after the New Year. This is the second time cab companies have been granted an extension.
Taxi companies initially had until November 1st to install either an L-shaped or full shield as part of the new safety regulations with the risk of cabs being pulled from the road if companies didn’t comply.
The deadline was then extended to November 29th, but the city’s largest taxi company still refused to install either of the shields, citing safety concerns.
"If you get T-boned from the side, there’s no way out," said Unicity Taxi driver, Hoshier Gill.
The bitter dispute between cab companies and the board has cost Steve Strong tens of thousands of dollars.
He says his company, Custom Plastic Creations, was asked by the province to have hundreds of shields ready to go and now wonders if they will ever leave his warehouse.
"There are over 100 shields here and enough hardware for 150 new cabs," said Strong.
Strong isn’t the only person who could loose money from the taxi dispute. Spring Taxi tells Global News it retrofitted all 40 of their cabs with the full shields back in September at a cost of $25,000.
There is no word if the province will compensate them depending on how the shield issue is eventually resolved.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.