As delays continue to mount in implementing ridesharing in B.C., another Vancouver man is coming forward with a problem taxi experience.
The issue this time? A demand for payment in cash, or a threat to refuse service — a violation of B.C.’s Taxi Bill of Rights.
Farhan Mohamed, the editor-in-chief of online publication Daily Hive captured the incident in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday night.
Mohamed was taking the Vancouver Taxi Co. cab from Yaletown to Coal Harbour with a friend, and had intended to pay by credit card.
But midway through the ride, he says the driver told them it was to be cash only.
WATCH: (Aired Dec. 11, 2017) Growing backlash over taxi service refusal video
When Mohamed told the driver he only had $5 on him, he says the driver threatened to end the ride.
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“I looked in my wallet, I said, “Five bucks, what am I supposed to do? Can you just drop us because we’re midway and your machine stopped working,’ and he said, ‘No, I’ll drop you here.'”
The taxi’s wireless payment terminal had failed — a part of a widespread outage for such machines across the city that evening.
Vancouver Taxi general manager John Palis declined to be interviewed on camera but said by phone that in such a circumstance, drivers are supposed to use an old-fashioned manual credit card imprint device.
He said if the driver didn’t have any of the slips, he should have called dispatch for instructions.
LISTEN: Farhan Mohamed explains his taxi experience on the Lynda Steele Show
Mohamed says that option was never presented, and the driver appeared serious about forcing him to exit.
“He turned the light on, he stopped the cab and he was basically going to say, ‘Get out of my cab,'” he said, adding he was eventually able to persuade the driver to finish the ride.
“Thankfully, he ended up dropping us, even though it seemed like he was going to stop a couple ways before we got there.”
WATCH: (Aired June 13, 2018) TV host denied cab service, takes to social media
He added that the driver told him that he should have kept cash on him.
Complaints about drivers who refuse certain payment methods are a common refrain from Metro Vancouver taxi passengers, despite clear provincial rules on the matter.
The industry has also faced repeated complaints about drivers refusing to take passengers because the trip is too far.
For Mohamed and his readers, this most recent experience is once again fueling outrage over the NDP government’s repeated delays on ridesharing which could arrive in 2019, or could take even longer.
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