(Tiffany Goodwein/CHATNewsToday)

By Tiffany Goodwein

City Council gives green light to ridesharing bylaw

Jul 6, 2020 | 11:53 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB- A bylaw that would open the door to ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft will be going full speed ahead.

Medicine Hat City Council voted unanimously in support of third and final reading of the bylaw at Monday’s council meeting.

“ Our whole world is changing, technology is changing at a tremendous speed and what we did yesterday will not happen tomorrow and so rideshare and Uber and all these other companies have become hugely successful. Now these folks don’t get any more special privileges when they apply for a licence with the city. They have to go through the same process,” Coun. Turnbull said prior to the vote.

Coun. Julie Friesen who previously expressed concerns about the safety of ridesharing, changed her tune and expressed her support. She also noted that competition between taxi’s and ridesharing companies may yield positive outcomes.

“I think there is room for both of them. Sometimes competition is much more healthy than we realize,” she said.

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After the vote, one might speculate a sense of defeat in the air from local cab companies but Jerry Mccaullum, general manager and president of the Deluxe Central Taxi Association, told CHAT News Today, that despite the prospect of more competition, he believes his taxi company will successfully dominate the public transportation industry in Medicine Hat for many years to come.

“ I think Medicine Hat is still too small of a municipality for it to really make an impact on us here,” he said, adding that there are still ways for local taxi companies to get the upper hand on the competition.

“I know for one Uber and Lyft work strictly off their apps, so they won’t be sitting at any of the late-night hang outs like Ralph’s and such where they are going to have people waiting to flag people out because they aren’t going to be able to do that,” he added.

So far, the ride-sharing company Lyft has expressed interest in operating in the city.