Halifax to review safety, training, licensing in taxi industry

In the wake of reported sexual assaults involving Halifax's taxi drivers, the municipalityis hiring a consultant to review safety, training and licensing in the industry.

The city issued a tender Friday detailing the scope of the review.

The consultant will examine possible safety measures in taxis and limousines for hire, including audio and video recording, real-time GPS, car shields, passenger trip logs and emergency alarm buttons.

The review will also look at cultural sensitivity training for drivers, as well as training on safety, professionalism and services for people with disabilities.

• Halifax looks to overhaul taxi driver training

The consultant will be asked to explore how taxi licences are issued, denied, suspended or revoked, as well as the appeal process for such decisions. Automatic revocation of licences for drivers who are charged or convicted of offences affecting passenger safety will be explored in the review.

Accessibility and new technologies will also be looked at, including cashlesspayment, in-car debit systems and the use ofapps.

Industry responds

Dave Buffett, president of the Halifax Taxi Drivers Association, said he agrees wholeheartedly with some of the possible changes, such as the implementation of cultural sensitivity training.

"I am 250 per cent behind that," Buffett said, adding that not all drivers come to the job with the same understanding of cultural standards in Canada.

"It is totally, totally necessary, totally appropriate. It's long overdue."

Buffett said he's not so sure about other ideas, such as automatically revoking the licence of anyone who is charged or convicted of an offence affecting passenger safety.

"As a taxi driver, I 300 per centsupport immediate revocation of someone who's assaulted a passenger in any way....As a Canadian,I'm not sure how that ties into the Constitution," he said."If in this country we're innocent until proven guilty, how is the city saying 'You're guilty?'"

As for safety measures in cabs, Buffettsaid he has advocated in the past for cameras in cabs, and manytaxisalready have GPS and alarm buttons for drivers.

But he said passengers are unlikely to see shields separating the front and back areas of the vehicles because most taxi drivers use their vehicles as family transportation outside working hours and they'd be reluctant to install a barrier.

"The industry will fight that tooth and nail," he said.

Industry last reviewed in 1994

Andrea MacDonald, the municipality's manager of licence standards, said the review was prompted by reported incidents of passengers being sexually assaulted.

In 2015 and the first seven months of 2016, there were nine sexual assault complaints against Halifax taxi drivers.

The tender comes about four months after a Halifax taxi driver,BassamAl-Rawi, wasacquitted of sexually assaulting anintoxicated female passengerwho was found partly naked and unconscious in the back of his cab by a police officer.

Last July, the municipality's transportation standing committee asked staff to consider how to make taxis safer.

• Sexual assault allegations in Halifax taxis spark warnings

But MacDonald said in addition to the safety concerns, the industry is simply due for a review. The last time the taxi industry was reviewed was 1994two years before amalgamation.

Public consultation

Although the tender will require the consultantto explore how other cities regulate their industries, the municipality is also conducting its own comparison.

MacDonald said she's learned that there is no standard across the country.

"If anything, it's sort of consistently inconsistent,so it makes it difficulttosay whether we're doing better or faring better than other municipalities," she said.

Public consultations will be conducted as part of the review. Other stakeholders, including taxi licence holders, the restaurant, hotel and tourism industries, the Halifax International Airport Authority, police, advocates for people with disabilitiesand Halifax Transit, will also be consulted.

MacDonald said there is no timeline set for the review to be completed.