It has been more than a year since Edmonton legislated ride sharing, and numbers obtained by Global News from the City of Edmonton show the number of ride-share licences is nearly triple the number of taxi licences.
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The bylaw for ride-sharing companies came into effect March 1, 2016. Those drivers can only arrange to pick up customers through an app; only traditional taxis are allowed to pick up street hails or people waiting at taxi stands.
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Numbers from the city show that taxi licences in Edmonton have remained fairly steady the last few years. The number of ride-share licences grew dramatically from 2016 to 2017, something the city attributes to working out kinks in the first year of processing of ride-share licences.
Waitse Ramirez, the program manager for Business License and Vehicle-for-Hire for the City of Edmonton, said the difference in ride-share versus taxi licences can be attributed to their business operations.
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“Perhaps there are part-time drivers and not as many full-time drivers – that might show an increase in those numbers. But again, it’s really market demand. When we have different users requiring different type services, that’s going to dictate how many of those drivers are out on the road,” she said.
Ramirez said the city considers the introduction of ride sharing in Edmonton a success since citizens have different options for transportation services, and she said it makes sense that the two options can co-exist in the city since they have different pick-up options.
“Depending on the needs of our users and citizens, both those services are available to them,” she said.
The city has a cap of 1,330 taxi vehicle licences, including accessible taxis, but Ramirez said no cap will be instituted on ride-share licences.
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“Really the number of drivers that would be on the road is based on market demand. We feel they can have as many out there as we can accommodate the number of requests that are coming in from our citizens,” she said.
When asked why the city is leaving so much in the hands of the market, Ramirez said the city does not have long-term data.
“Once we get that data, we’ll be able to work with industry in a much closer [fashion] to figure out where do we need to step in and if we need to step in,” she said.
John Pracejus, the director of the School of Retailing at the University of Alberta, said competition in the marketplace is good for consumers.
He said customers are attracted to ride-share companies for a variety of reasons, including affordability and technological convenience.
“I think people really like the fact they can see where the car is, who the driver is… they actually, I believe, add value through the technology that’s not possible without that technology,” he said.
“Those are the things the consumers really want and value. Obviously you can argue about the fairness of Uber being able to not pay for a bunch of taxi licences and that’s a legit argument. The argument that consumers are only using it because it’s cheap, I think is not true.”
Pracejus said the sharing economy, such as services like AirBnB and Uber, is not going anywhere.
“There’s all kinds of connectivity that’s developing through technology. I don’t see that slowing down at all in the future,” he said.
But he notes that it is far from perfect, saying people who rely on jobs through the sharing economy often do not have a pension or job security.
“It’s not 100 per cent positive; it’s certainly not 100 per cent negative. Sharing economies are going to be determined by both culture and how people believe the jobs should work. Also, it’s going to depend on deregulation – there will be clearly places the government will have to step in and say, ‘you can’t do that,’” he said.
Dawinder Deo, the president of the United Taxi Group, said the traditional taxi industry has seen the impacts of ride-sharing companies. The United Taxi Group represents the owners and close to 3,000 drivers of the traditional taxi industry.
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Deo said there has been a 30 to 40 per cent drop in rides since the city started allowing the service.
He also notes that the value of a taxi licence has dropped 60 per cent ever since the onset of ride-sharing services; he said that information is based on data from the market of when the second buyers of a licence get a plate from the previous driver.
Deo said the value of a licence, as it stands right now, ranges from $85,000 to $100,000.
However, he said that traditional taxi services are evolving to compete with companies like TappCar and Uber – many have introduced apps to help customers track their taxi and see who their driver is.
He is also comfortable with the fact there is no cap on ride-sharing licences.
“We are okay with that. The number of licences for taxis is fixed and, in their case, whatever they want to do, they can do,” he said.
Furthermore, he is not concerned that ride-sharing licences are nearly triple taxi licences.
“It is not worrying us. We have to rely on the type of service which we provide. Our service is not only economical – it’s efficient.”
Global News reached out to both TappCar and Uber to comment on how their ride-sharing services are faring in Edmonton and whether there are still shortcomings in how they are able to provide their service.
We only received a response from Uber, which does not specifically address the questions but reads in part: “Last year, the City of Edmonton became the first jurisdiction in Canada to adopt progressive ride-sharing regulations. Since that time, governments across Canada have moved forward on new regulatory frameworks and communities have embraced Uber as hundreds of thousands of people now rely on Uber to earn and get where they need to be.”
Uber is not still allowed to operate at the Edmonton International Airport (EIA), however, Global News has learned discussions are ongoing between Uber and the EIA for the ride-sharing company to be licensed to operate there.
Last year, there were about 1,000 inspections done and about 300 infraction tickets were issued, but many of them were tossed out.
READ MORE: Edmonton councillors concerned ride-sharing companies potentially breaking rules
The estimated cost to enforce the ride-share industry is $1.5 million.
-with files from Slav Kornik
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