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A spokesperson for Uber says it’s “highly unlikely” the corporate will come to Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo. The firm argues the municipality’s Vehicle for Hire Bylaw, which was handed by council earlier this month, “has additional red tape, high costs for individual drivers and privacy concerns.”
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But a minimum of two different ridesharing companies are preparing to start working within the area.
YMM Rider, an area ridesharing firm operated by Abdi Mursal, hopes to open quickly. And Y Drive, an organization based mostly in Peterborough, Ont., just lately expanded to Grande Prairie and is planning to launch in Fort McMurray.
While the homeowners of each companies have their criticisms of the bylaw, they each consider council and administration will likely be open to suggestions as soon as ridesharing turns into widespread.
“We are trying to offset some of that cost for the public,” mentioned Mursal. “What we are trying to do is bring a bit more cheaper services, more accessible and easy to use services in the region so everyone has access to transportation services.”
Drivers with ridesharing companies, which the bylaw and Alberta authorities calls a Transportation Network Company (TNC), should pay a $170 payment for a chauffeur allow and $500 for a TNC automobile license. The bylaw additionally requires cameras contained in the autos and that companies open an workplace inside the RMWB.
“There’s definitely room for improvement on the current bylaw, especially with the fees, with some of the previous concerns with the cameras for the rideshare,” mentioned Mursal. “I haven’t come across any other regions across the province that requires cameras to be installed in the rideshare vehicles.”
Y Drive proprietor Rob Davidson agreed the bylaw has its challenges. As an instance, he talked about the completely different payment constructions ridesharing companies pay in comparison with taxi and limo companies.
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“What’s disappointing is one of the big advantages for rideshare is that we can get the cost to the consumer down drastically and we’re not going to be able to do that if we’re having to pay 10 times the fees that cab companies are paying,” mentioned Davidson.
Gezim Veliu, Y Drive’s managing associate for Alberta, mentioned he has been instructed by municipal employees that the charges will likely be reviewed through the subsequent six to 12 months.
Deanne Bergey, RMWB director of neighborhood and protecting companies, mentioned at a June 14 council assembly {that a} proposed committee might make recommendations after reviewing suggestions from companies and clients.
A spokesperson for the world’s largest ridesharing firm, Uber, mentioned in an e-mail that the digicam requirement in autos is invasive.
The firm had provided suggestions to the municipality, mentioned spokesperson Keerthana Rang, and steered council undertake laws present in Airdrie, Edmonton, Lethbridge and St. Albert.
“Uber Canada’s decision to launch in the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo region, as in any other municipality, is dependent on market conditions and the operational complexity set out by local regulations,” she mentioned. “Keeping those conditions in mind, it is highly unlikely that the platform will launch under the current bylaw.”
Sun Taxi proprietor Ron MacNeill mentioned in a brief interview he has no drawback with rideshare companies working within the area, so long as they observe the identical guidelines and laws.
lbeamish@postmedia.com