Saint John taxis rush to get licensed before new bylaw takes effect

The lineup was long in Saint John Monday as local taxi drivers waited their turn before meeting with the city’s taxi inspector. They’re preparing for a new taxi bylaw which is set to take effect on Wednesday.

The bylaw requires all cabs to have meters and also includes new regulations surrounding vehicle age as well as driver appearance.

Heading into Monday just over 40 of more than 200 cabs had been licensed. That means the chance of all cars being approved for the road by Wednesday are slim.

“They’ve been a little slow on the uptake on this with the bylaw passed a year ago,” said Ralph Holyoke of the Saint John Taxi Advisory Committee. “Things should have started rolling then but there was always the resistance to it.”

The local taxi association also admits there may be fewer cabs on the road Wednesday.

“Today’s a very busy day and tomorrow is going to be an even busier day I suspect,” said Kevin Ramsay, Vice President of the Saint John Taxi Association. “There may be a little bit of wait time but we’re going to get the calls.”

The new bylaw has both its supporters and detractors.

“Because we still don’t have any control of our industry,” said Ramsay. “The customers get higher prices.”

Prices can change, said Holyoke, but it won’t happen overnight.

“Easy enough to change,” he said. “It will take several months because it has to go through a bylaw change.”

Holyoke said he hopes in the end, a fairer playing field will be created.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of talk that they’re not going to turn the meters on, they’re going to have the meters running but then charge the zone rate,” he said. “I guess if a business owner, cab driver wants to charge less for his services, that’s fine. ‘There’s nothing in the bylaw that says they can’t charge less.”

There is no word from the industry on how it plans to react Wednesday but Ramsay admits there are several different opinions on the matter.

“It’s emotional and everybody’s got their own view and their own possible solution,” he said. “We just hope that the best one comes.”