Residents of Metro Vancouver’s Tri-Cities area will have access to both major ridesharing services starting Monday.
That’s according to Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, who told Global News that Lyft is ready to begin serving PoCo, Coquitlam and Port Moody.
Uber already operates in the three communities.
“This has been a longstanding issue in our community, in particular because Port Coquitlam doesn’t have SkyTrain,” said West.
“We’re close in that SkyTrain is over in Coquitlam, but you know, we have a lot of folks who had challenges … and it’s been really frustrating for a number of people.
“It’s not a silver bullet, but it is something that helps.”
West said Port Coquitlam has taken the first steps to approving a new regional ride-hailing licence, with full approval expected on Monday.
That licence, which would allow rideshare companies to operate in every Metro Vancouver municipality that approves it, will become valid on April 1.
West said because the city is keen to have the service up and running, it will allow Lyft to operate without a municipal business licence until April.
“We want the service to operate so it will be able to operate without any impediments in PoCo,” he said.
“Once the regional licence is in place, that process will then take over and the service will continue to operate seamlessly.”
Lyft already operates in Vancouver, New Westminster and North Surrey.
With the addition of the Tri-Cities area, its coverage map will still have a major hole in Burnaby, bounded by the six communities.
Global News has asked Burnaby for an update on the service in that community.