Taxi use down sharply in Calgary since economic slump began

A lot fewer Calgarians are catching cabs than they were a year ago, according to figures releasedFriday.

Taxi trip volumes for the year so far are down 11 per cent compared to last year at this time, a report to the city's taxi and limousine advisory committee says.

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The drop-off in taxi use is even sharper in the third quarter down 16 per cent compared with the same period last year, which was just before the price of oil started to plummet and oil and gas companies began chopping jobs.

By this time last year, Calgarians had taken about 6.3 million taxi trips, compared to about 5.6 million so far this year.

Several taxi drivers at the airport told CBC News they routinely wait as long as two hours for a customer, a situation they partlyblame on the weak economy.

But business has been even slower since UberX began operating in Calgary earlier this month, drivers claimed.

In this year's third quarter, the average fare travelled 8.5 kilometres, lasted 14 minutes and cost $17.80 adding up to about $33.1 million in revenues for taxi operators, the report estimates.

The numbers also suggest there are more drivers on the road competing for fewer customers.

The average number of taxis on the road in the third quarter of 2015 was 1,633, up from 1,510 last year.

Thatled to a drop in the trips-per-driver ratio from 824 to 640, the report says.