Ottawa taxi drivers place request for 10 per cent fare hike
Posted Mar 11, 2022 03:53:00 PM.
It will likely cost you a bit more to hail a cab in Ottawa this summer.
It's been over a decade since taxi fares increased, and with the rising cost of just about everything, and the increased competition from ride-sharing companies, it was time.
“(Uber and Lyft) are able to manipulate their pricing on the fly,” explains Marc Andre Way, president and CEO of Coventry Connections. “Taxis on the other side we have to go through a permit system, we have to prove proper insurance, we have to have a vehicle that is of a certain age and every single fare that we do has to be done through the meter, and the meter is sealed by the city.”
A request must be made jointly by the company and the driver's union, and will eventually make it's way to city council.
“Once it's voted in, a timeline is given for us to recalibrate all of our meters, go back to an inspection and then we can start applying the new rates,” says Way in an interview with City News on Thursday, March 10.
Ottawa's largest cab company made the request in January, and asked for a 10 per cent hike, which Way explains could be passed by the beginning of summer.
“It seems that the fastest our drivers will see an increase on their meter is in June of this year.”
