Local developer, writer and resident Michael Geller has written a compelling commentary in the Vancouver Courier about Vancouver’s lack of taxi culture.
Talking about taxis is interesting. Everyone has a strong reaction to the topic. I have to admit my bias-I love taking taxis anywhere in the world, but not in Vancouver. I have taken a taxi driven by a famous jazz musician in Chicago, and been driven by the coach of the British Olympic Rowing Team in London. Perhaps the best experience was a cab driver in Nevis that taught me Nevis’ National Anthem during the ride.
In Vancouver, the city regulates taxi cabs. There is a taxi cab detail at the Vancouver Police Department, and you can call 311 and report bad behaviour of cab drivers. I have had cab drivers follow my car home when they felt I had cut them off in my car, and I have had cab drivers refuse to pick up senior citizens because the trip was too short. I am always apprehensive about getting a cab, because there is no uniformity of service. And I do feel uncomfortable getting in a cab and having the driver talk away on his cell phone while driving. I would much rather walk or take transit.
Thirty years ago I was in Council chambers when then Mayor Gordon Campbell asked the taxi detail the cost of taxi licenses. It was interesting to listen to, because the cab companies would not disclose what the value of each license was. At that time it was assumed that the licenses were trading around $800,000 each. That is a lot of money, but then again, driving a cab is a cash business, and cabs can be in operation for 24 hours a day.
Earlier this year I went to a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre with a friend who is in his 90’s. At the end of the performance, my friend told me he had reserved a cab. He knew the dispatcher, and he was sure the cab would come for him. I later found out that this elderly man waited two hours before slowly walking on two canes back to his apartment which took another hour. The senior had called the dispatcher repeatedly, and been repeatedly told yes, the taxi was coming. It never did.
Part of a mature urban city is a taxi service that is convenient, reliable, comfortable and uniform. Michael Geller has written another piece on the need to improve Vancouver’s broken taxi system in January 2015 following an SFU City Program discussion on Uber.
Michael notes “Having often waited for a cab, I was not surprised to learn Vancouver has the lowest ratio of taxis per capita of any major Canadian city, and fares are approximately 15 per cent higher. I found it significant that not one new taxi company had been allowed to enter the Vancouver market in 25 years. Compare this with any other retail or service industry.
I have again been thinking about taxis since attending a recent Greater Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon with Peter Gall, Q.C., counsel to the Vancouver Taxi Association. The session was billed as an opportunity for the association to present its solutions to better meet the needs of the public.For many years, the Board of Trade has had concerns about the taxi industry. Under president and CEO Iain Black, it commissioned a paper that revealed Vancouver would need to add 1,900 new taxis just to meet what is on the road in Calgary.
It went on to recommend a number of changes to the regulatory framework which would allow taxis and ride sharing services to co-exist.While many in attendance at the Board of Trade luncheon wanted to see major changes and improvements, Mr. Gall was protective of the industry, noting that taxi drivers have invested $500 million in the 800 licenses currently in existence.Many challenged this position, noting that in other sunset industries, investors have lost out when their industry became obsolete. Just ask the owners of Blockbuster Video.If Vancouver is to truly become a less car-oriented region, we must improve our taxi system. Hopefully, the province will pay attention to the Board of Trade’s recommendations.”
This is a timely article. Today a visitor to Vancouver wrote an article for Bloombergs on this very subject.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-08/vancouver-doesn-t-have-uber-it-boggles-the-mind
This is unacceptable that visitors to our City have to wait 3 hours for a taxi. A solution must be found for the present system is broken.
yeah, it is called Uber.
Why is Uber not in major W-Canada cities like Calgary or Vancouver yet ?
After Toronto started in Canada Edmonton took the lead in W-Canada as it is now available there since July 1.
http://business.financialpost.com/news/transportation/uber-drivers-passengers-in-ontario-now-automatically-covered-by-insurance-after-provincial-blessing
Just going out on a limb, but maybe it has something to do with the taxi owners association being a large contributor to Vision Vancouver and the BC Liberals.
I’m sure money has absolutely nothing to do with it. Vision is just looking out for the good of the citizens. 2 hours to wait for a taxi in Vancouver is just fine.
http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2015/02/25/vancouver-taxi-association-ramps-up-political-donations-in-2014.html
This city is a joke
I really don’t understand why an entire industry is judged mainly on anecdotes. I take cabs only a few times a year, mostly between my home and the airport, and judging from my own anecdotal experience it has been a superb service. I have never booked an advance time call and had the cab appear late. One in 20 or so rides was a negative experience (unclean car, speeding driver…), but the other 19 have been unremarkable but punctuated at a ~1:4 ratio with exemplary and very friendly service. I always try to engage the driver in an interesting exchange and about 1:2 comply, with some notable and highly informative discussions on their immigrant experiences. These drivers invariably light up and are very happy to talk about their families and homes in India or Belarus. Their accents can be heavy, but I always remind myself of my own grandparents who spoke two non-English languages when they arrived in this great country 110 years ago.
How many passengers slide into the back seat and arrogantly treat the cabbie like a just another servant immigrant instead of an equal human being (which can be communicated subconsciously through body language and verbal cues), then when they get the cold shoulder they complain about the service? The answer is: More than you know if you’ve never driven a cab.
I drove cab for two years in Calgary in the 70s and it was the lowest paying and most dangerous job I have ever had. During those 24 months countless cabbies were robbed, and two cabbies were murdered, and on a night shift I will never forget one has his throat opened by a big dog the passengers insisted on taking with them. The dispatcher had about 20 of us drivers giving up their earnings for a good chunk of that shift to cruise the area around the scene assisting the police in the wee hours looking for the suspects, and one was spotted by a cabbie driving up a lane hiding under a backyard deck. To this day most Canadian taxi companies have not erected ugly barriers between the driver and passenger, but that’s not because they haven’t been justified more often than what is commonly known. The incident with the dog wasn only one that was particularly memorable, and the others (a couple were very humourous) could fill several chapters in a book. I’m working on that.
If there should be a code of conduct for drivers, then I say bring on an equal code of conduct for passengers too. I don’t know what’s worse, having a drunk passenger harf up half-digested pizza and four beers on the back seat then scoot off at a red light without paying, or have a series of arrogant, rude and self-important suits with big brief cases toss a 100 on the seat for a quick 6-buck ride, like you were an illiterate long-haired hippie scumbag who didn’t deserve a tip and had no concept that time is money and that the passenger was holding civilization itself together with his/her bare hands. If you want some life experience as a writer, drive cab for six months and you’ll not just get the societal cross section every 30-trip shift filled to the brim with 15-minute short stories of every kind, but also the descent of your opinion about the human race. Perhaps half (at best) of passengers treat the driver with decency, and that’s on the day shift when they’re sober.
Regarding licences and rates, the drivers are usually not the owners, yet the drivers are judged the most. The drivers pay the owner a weekly lease that provides the owner with a stable income, which when I drove was shared between the day and night drivers working seven 12-hour shifts each. Take a shift off a few times a month at your own expense. You also paid for fuel, a taxi driver’s licence and courses from your own pocket. On about half the wintertime night shifts you barely break even. On weekends there are more cars on the road and drivers to compete with, but the earnings are better. This is why so many drivers only work weekends, and hold other jobs during the week. Show me one other job with such long hours that come with such low pay. Is it any wonder cabbies are usually immigrants who start out with the jobs most other Canadians won’t touch, then get stuck in them?
I think about these things when I read the circular debates here about Uber. Taxis are licenced and their insurance by law covers passengers. But in both cases drivers are not remunerated well, and passengers are at greater risk with Uber where insurance coverage is, I believe, left up to the drivers. At high volume locations (YVR, Canada Place, etc.) numerous cabs are waiting (or not far away) during the day. And see again my comment about time calls — superb service from the big companies. If you judge the industry by the availability of taxis in the middle of a sprawling suburb, during the fireworks, on New Years eve or at 1:00 a.m. on a Saturday night when the bars break, then you’re being nothing less than unfair.
The taxi industry has been put on notice to improve, but the cabbing public as yet has not received a similar notice. You want clean cars, then stop zoning for entertainment districts designed for suburban yobs who regularly spill protein the back, with the night driver expected to take an hour off to clean it up. You want friendly smiling drivers on every trip, then do your best to encourage friendly smiling passenger behaviour. You want fast, frequent service during rush hours, then vote to quadruple the investment in transit to uncongest the streets. You want better quality service, then sure, let’s increase the number of taxis and drop the cross-boundary regs, while also paying drivers better. On that last point, I’d like to see a base driver salary instituted with a 75:25% per-trip commission split between the driver and owner, with the owner tasked to improve the quality and number of cars. And don’t claim surprise when you are asked to pay for better service.
My 3c.
Uber allows the driver to rate passengers and passenger can rate the driver. A self-enforcing mechanism that does not exist yet with cabs. It prevents the very abuse you describe above.
In time, many cabs will use Uber as an app to get rides. Uber allows surcharge rates when demand is high, say after a major soccer game or at midnight when there are fireworks. It is modern. The cab industry could do that themselves. Why not allow folks in their spare time to make a few extra $s if they so chose.
Very useful is to see where my cab is with Uber. I find it always very annoying when I have booked a cab for 7 am and at 6:55 I have no idea if the guy shows up or not.
The internet revolutionized the hotel and tourism industry, as well as many others. But somehow the cab industry is immune, because they donate to the mayor’s campaign and city needs license plate revenue to maintain their monopoly revenues ? It is my understanding of most cities Uber deals now that they get a % or a few cents per mile to cover their lost plate revenue.
The world has changed, so let’s move on.
Yes, the world has changed. So stop promoting massive highways as a transportation solution. We now know they are a nightmare.
Many people would disagree here. We need more highways AND more public transit. it is not an either-or approach !
As you leave cities roads are the ONLY option in many cases.
More people in more areas = more roads ! Ever been south of the Fraser ? Biking or taking a bus is not so practical !
Why not drive along the SFPR (or Lionsgate bridge for that matter) and tell me how many bikes you see.
We can discuss priorities. Yes a widened or triple-decked Lionsgate bridge might have been a higher priority !
As pointed out in a story here on Pricetags, yesterday; some jurisdictions are considering reducing transit expenditures in light of the anticipated growth in autonomous vehicles.
These will be seen as Personal Commuter Vehicles (PCV), rather than communal, like buses and trains. They will be more popular the further one lives from a bus stop or train station. Think burbs. The more PCVs, the more roads to accommodate them.
The less expensive the residences in the outer suburbs and the more efficient the PCVs become, then the less need to live in an expensive small home right downtown. Plans need to be made now for a new and expanded Pattullo Bridge. TransLink should be diverting and dedicating funds for this now, as well as solving the chronic congestion on the Knight Street and Oak Street bridges.
There are over 13,000 taxis in New York City. It’s a very popular and personal mode of transport, even though there is also a comprehensive bus and subway system. Taxis are everywhere and easy to find. (In contrast, there only around 600 taxis in Vancouver. New York City is about 12 times larger than Vancouver and has more than 20 times as many taxis.)
Another issue Vancouver will have to contend with is where will all the PCVs go at the end of the morning commute.
Author
Reblogged this on Sandy James Planner.
If you had the misfortune to drive frequently down Granville Street along its length to the airport as I do, your opinion of taxi drivers would quickly plummet. I’d guess most Uber drivers would be a lot more protective and defensive in their driving as they use their own vehicle.
Don’t you love it when the taxis zip down the inside lane? It’s the fastest route, particularly with the left turn at King Edward blocking the outside lane, then again at 33rd and 49th, and again at Park.
In the outside lane drivers get caught up with left turners ahead. In the middle lane they have to avoid the drivers that suddenly find they are blocked ahead and cut in to the middle lane. The inside lane is best, as long as there aren’t any buses that want to stop. When they do the taxis just cut back out to the middle lane and go around them.
It’s one of those routes where locals drive one way and visitors another.
You are messed up with your inside, outside lanes. Inside is the left lane!
10th largest contributor to Vision:
Vancouver Taxi Assoc., $53,500
http://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/heres-that-obligatory-list-of-top-donors-in-vancouvers-election
The industry needs to be liberalized with competition.
And frankly, if Uber makes taxis obsolete so be it. It’s called creative destruction of capitalism, and it is the source of all human productivity and prosperity.
Liberalizing the industry will wipe out some people’s wealth. But I don’t want to live in a society that prevents the rise of the automobile to product the buggy-whip manufacturer.
The price of a taxi license shouldn’t be $800,000. This value is the expected discounted present value of all future abnormal profit from operating in a coddled, protected industry. It is also rent extracted from consumers and redistributed to the owners of the license. With proper competition we’d expect this number to be somewhere around $0.