Red Deer city council has passed a vehicle for hire bylaw that will phase out a cap on taxi licences in three years.
To soften the landing for local taxi companies, the cap is not being lifted immediately. Instead, council approved allowing 15 additional licences to be issued in each of the next three years.
Council grappled for considerable time over what was the right number of licences to be issued over the next three years before leaving plate numbers up to the market.
Coun. Vesna Higham unsuccessfully proposed 20, 15 and 10 licences over three years.
Coun. Cindy Jefferies countered with a successful motion proposing 15 licences in each of the next three years. After that the cap on taxi plates will be removed and the market will dictate the number of taxis the city can support.
The success of that motion meant a similar amendment from Coun. Victor Doerksen proposing 10 licences over the next three years did not get to a vote.
He explained he did not think it was appropriate to dramatically change the market by introducing so many new plates in a relatively short amount of time.
The last time more taxi plates were approved was in 2020 and then only five plates were released in a draw.
Higham also proposed that taxi companies that hold 15 per cent or more of existing taxi licences not be eligible for the random draw for the 15 licences up for grabs in each of the next three years.
The intent was to give new operators a better chance of lining up the necessary plates to get businesses up and running.
A number of other changes were approved as part of the bylaw changes. Age-based restrictions for vehicles were replaced with mechanical inspection restrictions and taxi drop rates were removed. The licensing process was simplified and the number of years required for drivers' abstracts was reduced to three years from five.
"These changes are designed to support our city's ability to provide reliable transportation options for residents and visitors," said city parking and licensing supervisor Amy Fengstad.
"Our goal through this bylaw revision is to balance industry needs and customer priorities."
Many of the city's taxi drivers have not been happy with the city's plans.
Taxi drivers protested in front of City Hall last month against the proposal to get rid of the cap on taxis.
Drivers were concerned that too much competition will kill the local taxi industry, put drivers out of work and create hardships for their families, and negatively impact customers who depend on them, especially seniors.
