The city is looking into taxi regulations in St. Albert, that could see licensing and safety issues addressed.
St. Albert currently does not have a bylaw that governs the operations of taxis within the city.
The St. Albert RCMP has raised concerns about the lack of taxi regulation in St. Albert previously with city council.
While council hasn’t yet officially asked staff to look at a such a bylaw, city administration is working on research, anticipating either a council request or an administrative recommendation to council.
“It’s quite preliminary right now, all the research that we’re doing,” said Cheryle Wong, the city’s business licence inspector. “We’re just looking into other municipalities, seeing what they have.”
Some other capital region neighbours do have taxi regulations. Edmonton has a robust system including security clearance, proof of driver training, English-language competency tests and other requirements.
Other communities such as Leduc and Strathcona County have introduced regulations in recent years.
Wong said the research includes examining if a bylaw would be needed, or if regulations could be handled through business licensing.
“There’s a lot of different routes that we can take for it,” Wong said.
Taxi licensing in St. Albert does require a form to be filled out that includes the owner’s name, business name, vehicle description, licence plate and confirmation of the appropriate driver’s licence and commercial registration, said information written in response to a councillor’s question about taxi bylaws and ride-sharing services like Uber.
Wong said she hasn’t heard from Uber yet, or any St. Albert residents who have used the service.
St. Albert Taxi owner Blair Logan thinks there should be some kind of governance of taxis in this city.
“There should be some kind of commission here,” he said.
Guidelines should address car and driver safety, as well as consistent guidelines for the vehicles so there’s a “fair playing field.”
“I follow the same guidelines as Edmonton does,” Logan said.
But he finds it unfair that while his cars can’t pick up fares in Edmonton, Edmonton cars come here and pick up passengers.
Logan would also like to see the industry regulated so someone can’t just get a business licence and a cellphone and be in business as a cab company.
