Saint John’s deputy city manager says the proposed new vehicle-for-hire bylaw will pave the way for ridesharing opportunities down the road.
Neil Jacobsen says they’re working with Fredericton and Moncton to see how they can align their efforts and possibly come up with a tri-city model.
But Jacobsen says they need to be cautious because they also want to make sure the city has a sustainable taxi industry.
“We want to make sure, in a market our size, that we can find that balance so we have to be careful how we move forward but part of the goal is to do some homework.”
Mayor Don Darling says that homework is important because you can’t make the taxi industry meet a ton of regulations while letting ridesharing companies do whatever they want.
Councillor Greg Norton, who has been pushing for a ridesharing bylaw for some time, is glad to see this work happening.
“I’m confident that Uber is going to end up in the city of Saint John with the right bylaw, not because we’re a huge market, but if the right bylaw is struck, they see it as an entry point into this territory.”
