24/7 Rideshare Service decals (Photo Courtesy CHATNewsToday)

By Gates Guarin

Rideshare service gaining traction

Jun 28, 2022 | 5:19 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – With Uber a mainstay in the bigger markets in Canada, the owner of the only rideshare company in the city says his service can provide everything Uber can, all while keeping it local.

Trevor Penner started 24/7 Rideshare Service a year and a half ago with his partner, Nina. The service got their wheels on the ground after City Council voted to amend a bylaw allowing ridesharing services in the city. Penner says it was a struggle in the early days.

“It’s been a challenge, with Medicine Hat being used to using the taxi service,” Penner says. “Now we have a little innovation that saves the drivers money, saves the passengers money, a little more communication between the drivers and passengers…it’s the way of the future.”

Penner believes Medicine Hat is starting to utilize ridesharing more and more, and has the market to expand. Penner does want to keep the industry on a more local scale in order to keep the money in the community.

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“Uber is a great system, but we’d like to have our own little homegrown Uber and we’re really proud to see it working.” says Penner.

Amanda Brinda, city planner and director of development services with the City of Medicine Hat, says while the city is always open to another ridesharing service, it is not actively looking for one at this time. Brinda says any service wanting to operate in the city has to go through the proper channels.

“What we require before we can approve that is approval from the province,” Brinda says. “So there is an approval process they go through at the provincial level, they regulate this, and they would need to provide that to us before we can provide them with a business licence.”

There are currently 10 vehicles for the community to call upon, with four more drivers already on the way.