Uber coming to B.C.

[Snarf]

http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/190868/ ... ing-to-B-C

Well, this should be interesting!

[FreeRights]

Glad that it's coming, but I'm not in favour with all of the spending and advantages that the BC government is giving to the taxi companies.

[Snarf]

So Uber drivers make about 90 cents per mile and 15 cents per minute, less 25% that goes to Uber and then you subtract fuel/write off/insurance and income taxes. It doesn't sound like a lot of money, maybe a little more than minimum wage?

[The Green Barbarian]

finally some disruption to the taxi companies. Just as we've seen in the insurance, music, newspaper and entertainment industries. You can't hold back technology forever.

[Leifer]

finally some disruption to the taxi companies. Just as we've seen in the insurance, music, newspaper and entertainment industries. You can't hold back technology forever.

Agreed.
Getting home (West Kelowna) from the airport.....its actually cheaper to rent a car.

[Even Steven]

Heck yeah!

GO UBER!!!!

[Jflem1983]

Tried to sign up as a driver in early 2015 . May consider signing up again now. Be an easy way to add a few bucks to a guys pay without having to change a lot in life . If the rides work out take them . If it's out of the way and busy . That guy can get a different truck to take him

[Persian Apple Country]

In the last few years we've seen many people arguing for a living wage for those in the service industry. Please keep that in mind when you see what happens after the launch of Uber in town.

Uber charges the passenger $1.55 which Uber keeps all of. The remaining charge (the
fare calculated by distance and time) is split 25% to Uber, 75% to the driver.

Drivers pay for car, gas, maintenance and depreciation, licensing & time as opportunity cost. We will see a pool of drivers willing to work close or under minimum wage to support / supplement their other income.

Uber is a marketplace for drivers, driving cost lower by lowering driver's wages / income. Because all other factors are pretty much the same per KM for all.

Let's just keep track of some of these aspects.

PS I'm all for more competition, better service and happy travels

[johnrae]

""""""The province also announced a $1 million investment to help the taxi industry develop an app that will help them compete with ride-sharing services."""""

Why should the "Tax payer" have to help out the taxi companies. They have been overcharging us for years and they new this was coming. Amazing. The money that gets thrown around is amazing..

[Urbane]

And of course Uber coming to BC has political ramifications:

By promising to finally let Uber operate in British Columbia, Christy Clark’s governing Liberals have laid a devious election trap for the rival NDP.

To the Liberals’ great delight, the New Democrats are walking right into it.
http://theprovince.com/opinion/columnis ... s-right-in

[FreeRights]

What I still don't get is what, exactly, is the $1 million for?

Most cab companies in the Lower Mainland already has their own app, including GPS tracking and secure messaging to the taxi driver. Unless the government is going to finance any other taxi companies in the province without such an app.

[WalterWhite]

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/260713 ... -this-fall

The B.C. government has set up a series of rules and regulations as it opens the door to ride hailing applications for the service on Sept. 3.

There's no exact day when ride hailing could start in the province, and opinion varies from mid-September to as late as the end of the year.

New Democrat Bowinn Ma, who heads an all-party committee that deals with ride hailing, says the service could start by year's end, while a Transportation Ministry bureaucrat says the companies could be approved to operate as early as Sept. 16.

Ma says new regulations require transportation network companies to pay $5,000 annual licence fees, charge 30 cents per ride on vehicles that don't have access for disabled passengers and drivers must wear seatbelts at all times.

The government says an annual inspection is needed if the vehicle has logged 40,000 kilometres in the previous year, vehicles can't be older than 10 years and illegal operators could face fines of $100,000.

Ma says regulations about fares and routes will come later this summer.

Uber Canada spokesman Michael van Hemmen says the ride hailing company will review the B.C. policy to evaluate it impacts on the ability to serve customers.

[my5cents]

The big news right now is that the government is going to require all ride sharing drivers to obtain a class 4 driver's license. The same class that taxi drivers have.

I haven't found a Castanet article on it, but the Global News article spouts off that "Class 4 drivers have the same number of collisions as Class 5". Well actually class 4 have 1 fewer per 100 drivers.

Gotta love Global, in the bold print on their web site below a video they make that statement. Then deep in the body of the article they state that "ICBC's stats come with a number of caveats. The data doesn't account for the time behind the wheels or kilometres driven".

So, the average class 5 driver drives, what ? to and from work and a bit on the weekend and the average class 4 driver drives what ? 10 hours a day, and each class has the same number of collision ??? I'd say that means the class 4 drivers has much fewer collisions PER KM.

Anyway,,, I really think that requiring ride sharing drivers, Uber or Lyft or whatever, to have a class 4 is a VERY GOOD idea. It's one thing for a person to get a ride from a person they know, but if I'm getting a ride from a total stranger, on top of needing to be assured they don't have a serious criminal record, I'd like to know they can pass a class 4 driving test.

[Veovis]

I don't think the class 4 is a bad thing overall, but I don't think it's a safety issue. I think it is meant to minimize the number of people that will go through the work to get it and therefore lower the impact on cab companies, and for those that do, ICBC gets a nice cash grab.

[Smurf]

There are reasons that cab drivers and cab companies have all the requirements and I don't believe we should expect any less of ride sharing drives. If they want to haul the general public around then they should be properly certified.