Red Deer's new taxi bylaw got some minor fixes following feedback from cab companies.
The biggest change for the taxi industry in the Vehicle for Hire Bylaw passed in May was the removal in four years of a longstanding cap on taxi licences
To soften the landing for local taxi companies, the cap has not being lifted immediately. Instead, council approved allowing 15 additional licences to be issued in each of the next three years.
At that point, the cap was to be lifted a year later. However, as the bylaw was worded the cap could be lifted the day after the third and final 15-licence draw, which was not council's intention, said Inspections and Licensing Manager Erin Stuart.
That was clarified in the amendments unanimously approved by council on Monday.
Of the first 15 plates handed out in the draw, 13 went to new companies. One was returned. A decision has not been made on whether to hold a draw for the single plate or add it to next year's draw.
A section involving the transfer of taxi plates was also tweaked. As written, plates could only be transferred if a taxi was permanently taken off the road.
"This really limits the brokerage on how the plates can be moved around," said Stuart. "That was not the intent."
As written in the bylaw, a plate could not be temporarily transferred while a cab was in the shop getting fixed. That was changed along with 11 other more minor amendments on Monday.
The bylaw passed in May introduced a number of new regulations. 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.
Stuart was asked how the taxi bylaw has been received.
Opinion before it was passed was "somewhat split," she said. "I still think that's the general feeling out there."
