Charlottetown scrapped its taxi bylaw. Now, a local cab company is raising concerns

The manager at City Taxi in Charlottetown has some concerns with the way the industry is running in the city. Last April, council voted to get rid of its taxi bylaw. And he says ever since, things have been out of control. Well, right now, it's kind of like, for lack of a better word, the wild west. Like, there's no taxi bylaws, there's nobody checking for proper insurance or criminal record checks or anything. Like, it's just throw a hood sign on, you're a taxi. Right now, the province requires taxi and rideshare drivers to have a Class 4 restricted license, the proper insurance, and a yearly vehicle safety inspection. The former bylaw determined things like how much a trip costs and licensing. Drivers had to apply each year, show proof of insurance, and pass a criminal record check. Now, without the bylaw, Corrigan says drivers have free rein, and many are just doing and charging whatever they want. There's no wrong price because there is no pricing, like there's no structure there for the pricing. We still use the same structure that the city had for air drives, but if someone charges double what we charge, they're not overcharging. There's no bylaws, right? In a statement, a spokesperson for the city says the decision to get rid of the bylaw came down to the fact that Charlottetown was the only municipality that still had one. The repeal brought Charlottetown in line with other island municipalities. reduced administrative and enforcement demands on city resources, and provided the transportation industry with greater flexibility to respond to changing consumer needs and emerging services, including rideshare options. The city also says it contacted all registered taxi and rideshare operators at the time to get their feedback, but nobody voiced concerns. Corrigan says he did tell officials he'd rather see changes made to update the bylaw, And he's since had meetings with councillors and the mayor. Well, if someone happens to have a criminal record and if they're not safe to be with, or they could be a sexual offender, like I said, we check all our guys and girls, and they don't get a job unless they pass all that. But who's to say what the other guys are doing? Corrigan says he's in the process of creating a taxi association to help streamline taxi and rideshare services here in the city. And he had a meeting with other drivers yesterday. He plans to meet with the next mayor and council following the election. Cameron Farkas in CBC News, Charlottetown.