Thousands turn up for lottery offering 222 new Calgary taxi licences

After being approved by city council last year, an additional 222 taxi licences were doled out through a lottery on Tuesday to a crowd of 2,772 hopefuls.

Dharamjit Parma was one of those in the crowd. His number wasn't called, but he's not sure it would have made much of a difference anyway.

"Now that Uber is here, I think it would be not much difference," he said.

"Considering that we have to pay rent all the time with the established companies. I think Uber is much better for new starts ... for the people who are not associated with this conventional taxi industry."

He said ride-hailing companies offermore flexibility and don't require the steep rents drivers have to pay to drive a taxi.

'When our customers are happy ... we are happy'

Calgary lottery doles out new taxi licences

8 years ago

Duration 0:38

222 new taxi licences were up for grabs on Tuesday in Calgary

Abdul Rafih, the chief livery inspector for the city, said the additional licences weren't released in 2014 due to the economic outlook, but that the industry wanted them to remain competitive in the face of Uber and other companies like Lyft.

He said there's the potential for more licences to hit the market, but couldn't say when and how many.

Eisa Gumma said he's been driving for Checker Cabs for 10 years. He said some of the older drivers are frustrated by the lottery system, which doesn't reward seniority.

When it comes to competition from ride-hailing companies, however, he's not concerned.

"We have to have that competition to provide more services and quality, and that will be good," Gumma said.

"When our customers are happy, our citizens are happy, we are happy."

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