New charge could be coming for taxi, Uber customers

Calgarians who use taxis or ride-hailing services like Uber could soon be paying an extra 20 cents every trip to help subsidize the cost of running accessible taxis.

City council's committee on community and protective services approved an incentive program designed to keep more accessible taxis on the road.

There have been complaints for years about the problems with on-demand accessible taxi service.

A parade of citizens went before the committee on Wednesday to say they aren't happy with the current state of the service.

Jack Smart, who uses a wheelchair, said there has been no improvement in services in recent years wait times are too long or they're just unreliable.

"Even today, I can't get a guarantee on an accessible taxi being available if I book it the day before. I can't get the guarantee. That's the key thing," Smart told the committee.

He suggested there needs to be more accessible taxis on the street, and city council should mandate that transportation network companies like Ubermust have some accessible vehicles.

Long waits for taxis

Lauri Brunner, who is the chair of the city's Advisory Committee on Accessibility, said disabled customers can wait 60 or 90 minutes for an accessible taxi.

"Contrast that to regular taxi response times of between five and 10minutes. How is this fair to our city's vulnerable citizens in wheelchairs and mobility devices?"

There are 189 accessible taxi plates in the city. But the committee heard that 22 of those plates have been returned to the city and are no longer used by cabs on the street.

City administration's plan is to help the accessible taxi plate holders with the high financial cost of providing the vehicles for the service.

An accessible taxi can cost $55,000 for the vehicle and for the special equipment that must be added allowing wheelchair users to travel safely.

The city is proposing to provide up to $3,000 a year for an accessible taxi plate holder for up to eight years to keep a vehicle in service.

As well, $2,000 would be available for each driver of an accessible taxi.

That would be $40,000 totalfor each vehicle.

Financial help could equalbetter service

Kurt Enders with Checker Cabs said that money would be a good incentive to keep more of these special vehicles on the road.

"We've been asking for a subsidy for the accessible drivers now for over three years and I think this is something that the drivers need," said Enders.

"I think it will help provide better service to Calgarians."

Not everyone is convinced that the subsidy program is the way to improve the service.

Centralized dispatch system suggested as an alternative

Coun. Jyoti Gondek said rather than charging customers of taxi and ride-hailing services the $1.5-million cost of the subsidy program, she'd rather see the city provide a centralized dispatch system.

That would allow disabled customers to call for an accessible taxi and the nearest vehicle regardless of company would be dispatched.

She said that could improve service times by allowing more efficient use of the existing accessible taxis that are already on the street.

There was a recommendation before the committee to explore centralized dispatch by mid-2020.

However, that was amended by the committee to have administration explore new technologies or Calgary Transit Access to possibly be used as a central dispatch service ahead of that timeframe.

City council will discuss the proposals approved by the committee later this month.

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