WATCH: When Uber launched in Edmonton on Dec. 18, it offered free rides. Now, those freebies are ending. Emily Mertz tells us what that means.
EDMONTON – Uber has been offering free rides since its official launch in Edmonton, but the freebies will end at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
UberX launched in Edmonton on Dec. 18. The promotion was limited to fares under $30 using the ride-sharing uberX service.
“With high demand in the past week, we know our Edmonton riders loved our free service for the holidays, which ends today,” said Xavier Van Chau, one of the company’s spokespeople in Canada. “Uber will continue to operate uberX in the Edmonton with fares up to 30 per cent cheaper than traditional taxi.”
When the ride-sharing service started in Alberta’s capital, it did so amid debate over licensing issues and safety concerns. City officials have repeatedly said if the drivers start charging fares, they’d be considered bandit taxis — illegal in Edmonton.
“The City of Edmonton encourages new businesses in our city and wants them to prosper, but the operation of business must be legal, as citizens’ safety is our priority. We consider Uber to be bandit taxis until they get licensed,” said Garry Dziwenka, the director of the city’s business licensing and vehicle-for-hire department.
“If Uber starts taking fares, we will enforce the same rules as we do for other bandit taxis.”
Dziwenka said Uber doesn’t require drivers to have a Class 1, 2 or 4 licence, which the Alberta Traffic Safety Act requires. He explained they would beconsidered bandit taxis because they don’t have a taxi license to operate in Edmonton.
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“You must have a broker’s licence… you must be brokering five vehicles that have city plates, you must have your own colour, that sort of thing… the drivers have to be licensed by the city.”
However, many Edmontonians have been praising Uber for offering a quick and accessible transportation option in a market that has an admitted “supply problem.”
In a year-end interview with Global News, Mayor Don Iveson said there will be a “meaty” discussion about the ride-sharing issue and vehicle-for-hire bylaw first-thing in January.
“We have to look at all of the facets of this,” he said, “from the dispatches, to the conditions on the licences, to the number of licences, to the new technology.
“We know that there’s a tidal wave of change coming to this industry.
“We need to work with the existing stakeholders who’ve invested a lot of time and energy building their businesses under our regulatory framework… But we also have to recognize that the market is changing very, very rapidly and our regulations are going to have to adapt to that.
“Unfortunately, some of the companies have taken a kind of difficult approach to entering certain markets and they’ve sort of said ‘damn the consequences’, basically, ‘we’re going to operate how we operate.’
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“I would really prefer to be working with these companies in a constructive fashion to explore how our regulatory environment can change so that we can — on the one hand, ensure public safety and ensure people aren’t being taken advantage of — while embracing some of the innovations that they do bring around technology to enable payment and dispatch.
“I think there’s going to be disruption,” added Iveson.
“The status quo in our vehicle for hire business is going to change, I can’t tell you how though.
“We’ll look for cooperation from anyone who wants to enter the market. Unfortuantely, if they won’t cooperate, we have to apply the regulations that we have. Buyt I hjoep that we’ll be able to work something out.”
You can watch the year-end interview with Iveson on Global Edmonton on Dec. 31. It will also be posted on our website.
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