There is a price war ‘raging’ in the Saint John taxi industry with the changeover to meters in cabs according to the chair of the Saint John Taxi Advisory Committee, though the group doesn’t feel that a minimum rate should be mandated.
Meters are required under the controversial new taxi bylaw, which came into effect less than one month ago and have now been installed in around 120 cars. However, Ralph Holyoke says there’s no uniformity in what’s being charged—some companies are charging the old zone rates, some are charging the new meter rates and some are charging the lower of the two.
“It was the intention of the bylaw to have a meter, the meter would be run and that rate would be the rate charged for every run,” says Holyoke. “But there’s nothing in there about discounting or making it any cheaper. Hence the price war that’s going on now.”
The main concern right now, Holyoke points out, is the cost imbalance when it comes to short and long trips. The advisory group recommended to Common Council at its latest meeting on Monday evening that they immediately revise the rate structure.
“It came from the industry and it will rectify the fact that the shorter runs were getting really, really cheap, $4 runs, $3 runs and change and the longer runs to the airport, Quispam were getting to be quite expensive—no question.”
Common Council gave preliminary approval to the new meter rates which will see the initial fare go up by two dollars and the distance rate go down by 54-cents a kilometre. This change still needs to pass third and final reading and will tentatively come into effect on July 15. It’s anticipated that this will slightly increase fares for shorter trips but significantly reduce fares for longer trips.
Taxi advisory committee recommends immediate rate change—raise $3 initial fee to $5 & reduce distance cost from $1.64/km to $1.10 #sjcouncil
— Laura Lyall (@LauraLyall) June 27, 2016
Kevin Donovan is with Diamond Taxi. He believes not having a minimum rate opens up a price war.
“The minimum rate and the per kilometre rate has to be set, it’s the only way to protect the citizens of Saint John.”
