RIDE HAILING STILL STUCK IN NEUTRAL
NDP continues to stall on this simple issue, despite fast-tracking more complex items
After taking every opportunity to study, consult and otherwise delay, the New Democrats finally introduced the legislation Monday for a “made-in-B.C.” version of ride hailing.
Or so they said. On closer reading, the legislation turned out to be mainly a front for further considerations, consultations, regulatory dodges and delays.
Bill 55, the Passenger Transportation Amendment Act, amends eight pieces of legislation, runs to some 46 pages and dozens of clauses, sub-clauses and explanatory notes.
But the bottom line on the entire package emerged during the technical briefing when reporters tried to nail down precisely when British Columbians will enjoy the same ride-hailing services that are already in place elsewhere on the continent.
The New Democrats have suggested for some time that things should be ready in late 2019. But when reporters pressed the point, they learned maybe, maybe not. Can’t make any promises. Might be 2020. The legislative text starts on a puckish note with the New Democrats choosing to redefine the two most common terms associated with the ridehailing controversy.
No longer shall we refer to taxis or ride-hailing vehicles. Henceforth both are to be known as passenger-directed vehicles or PDVs.
As for the commonplace ridehailing app, accessed on a smartphone, that is now defined in law as a transportation network service, or TNS.
With terms out of the way, the legislation moves to greatly strengthen the regulator of the aforementioned TNSs and PDVs, the Passenger Transportation Board.
“The board will expand its role in receiving applications and setting out terms and conditions of licences, including taxis, ridehailing, and passenger-directed vehicles,” according to the briefing notes.
“The board will have authority to determine the rates charged to passengers, as well as the supply and operating area of vehicles (for) transportation network services.”
Supposedly the board will gather the necessary data on the supply of vehicles within a given operating area and be guided by considerations like “public need” and “sound economic conditions.”
But that could prove to be a lengthy, contentious and ultimately subjective determination.
Moreover, the cabinet itself will have a hand in shaping the process.
The board chair and members will all be NDP appointees. Perish the thought that well-connected New Democrats would already be angling for one of those board appointments.
Plus the cabinet has reserved for itself rules of practice and procedure for the board, and to place limits on its ability to recover costs for its regulatory processes. Indeed, the legislation assigns broad-brush regulatory powers to the cabinet to be determined after the fact — setting fees, defining terms, delegating powers and specifying geographic areas and classes of vehicles.
Another undefined consideration is a special fee, to be charged per trip, to fund accessibility options for people with disabilities. At this point, the size of the charge is anyone’s guess.
From the briefing notes: “With these legislative changes, government expects applications from ride-hailing companies wanting to enter the market will be submitted to the Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) by fall 2019.”
Except that there still is the not-small matter of the necessary insurance for any new ridehailing service.
The legislation enlists the services of the Insurance Corp. of B.C. in developing such a product. But it adds little in the way of specifics, nor does it establish a hard and fast deadline for implementation.
While ICBC is said to be already working on such a product, the technical briefing shed no light on how far along it has got.
In fairness to the folks at the government-owned auto insurance company, they have some other things on their plate — like an NDP-ordered top-to-bottom makeover of rates, rate structures, coverage, payouts and the like.
Supposedly ICBC will have something ready on the ridehailing front this time next year, after, natch, the usual back and forth with government and those in the business.
Once approved by ICBC, it will then have to be approved by the independent B.C. Utilities Commission, before it can be offered to any would-be operator seeking to get into the ride-hailing business in B.C.
Given all those uncertainties, the New Democrats are making no promises about this thing being operational before 2020.
Still, they are thinking ahead in one respect. Tucked inside the enabling legislation is a commitment to strike a committee of the legislature in early 2022, following the next provincial election.
Its mandate: “Review these changes to make sure the government is on the right track with modern, safe taxi and ride-hailing service.”
Having delayed the thing through most of their first term of government, the New Democrats are now promising to revisit it in a hoped-for second term.
All by way of reinforcing the NDP line that this ride-hailing thing needs to be approached with supreme caution.
Sure, they wasted no time launching a half-baked speculation tax and in stacking the deck in favour of electoral change.
But implementation of a service that is already in place in comparable jurisdictions all over the world? Some things just can’t be rushed.
Hence another round of stalling and excuse-making, all in the name of crafting a made-in-B.C. solution to a problem that has already been solved pretty much everywhere else.