Taxi, ride-for-hire companies lash out at proposed bylaw changes
Posted Oct 20, 2016 7:49 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Things could get heated when the Livery Transport Advisory Committee meets Thursday.
The topic is changes to the application process for transportation network companies which are seen as more favourable for operators like Uber.
But there is strong opposition to the changes.
Mo Benini runs a vehicle-for-hire service Cowboy Taxi.
He says smaller companies like his will be hit hard by the licensing fee increase from $1,753 to $5,000, the two cent per trip fee and the $15 driver fee.
“This is the way laws make the rich richer and poor poorer and it doesn’t give an equal opportunity for everybody to enter the market,” he said.
Benini argues Uber can operate without the changes, but is very good at manipulating governments and insurance companies into giving them exactly what they want.
“It gives them a bigger advantage drafting this new amendment that Calgary Livery is proposing to put in,” he said.
The meeting starts at 10 a.m. at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Centre and is open to the public.
Benini and representatives from several other taxi companies say they will be there to voice their frustration.
