MLA Michelle Stilwell urges province to move faster on ridesharing after being stranded by taxi company

Liberal MLA Michelle Stilwell is sharing her taxi nightmare story in an effort to apply more pressure on the government to speed up the introduction of ridesharing.

Stilwell, who uses a wheelchair, says she scheduled a taxi to pick her up at her hotel in Vancouver on Tuesday morning to catch a Helijet ride to Victoria. She booked the cab so she would have plenty of time to catch her flight, but it never arrived.

The politician then booked another cab, which never showed up and tried to get the hotel’s bellman to help hail a cab with no luck. She then decided to wheel herself to the terminal.

“After half an hour, I had no choice but to wheel from the hotel to the Helijet, which took me through downtown Vancouver, through a parkade to a road that is under construction and has no sidewalk,” Stilwell said.

“By the time I finally got to Helijet my hands were black with mud and my clothes were filled with grit from the ground and dirty and my hands were frozen.”

The provincial government passed legislation last week that opens the doors for ridesharing companies to operate in B.C. by the fall of 2019 by the earliest. But critics say that the new regulations are prohibitive for companies like Uber and Lyft to operate under their current model.

The B.C. Liberals, Stilwell’s party, had years to address the issue and failed to. Transportation Minister Claire Trevena told reporters last week that the NDP were able to deliver where the Liberals couldn’t.

“We have had app-based ride-hailing available in the province since 2012 and the previous government did nothing about it,” Trevena said. “We have been working solidly and working well alongside partners that wanted to work on this.”

But Stilwell is still concerned about the timing. The B.C. Liberals attempted to force government’s hand last week by introducing private member’s legislation on the issue but it was far too late and never seriously considered.

“I don’t believe ridesharing is going to take away the services that taxis already provide, it’s just an additional service,” Stilwell said. “In major cities like Vancouver we are seeing the need for it. Especially this time of year when people are at parties and having drinks, they need safe rides home.”

Stilwell, who is a multi-gold-medal-winning Paralympian, has used ride-hailing services around the world. She does not need to use taxis that have wheelchair ramps and believes ride-hailing could provide additional services for people who do.

“If you think of ridesharing it is just opening alternative modes of transportation for people whether they have a disability or not,” Stilwell said. “It could actually open the door for people with disabilities to use their vehicles and drive others with a disability around.”