CR20-53 Seasonal Taxi Licences was approved by Council at the June 30, 2020 meeting. The bylaw amendments were introduced and received final reading at the July 29, 2020 Council meeting. During the reading of Bylaw No. 2020-51 The Taxi Amendment Bylaw, 2020, councillors brought forward a concern from some taxi brokers in relation to section 14(5) which provides for the reallocation of a seasonal taxicab licence should a broker fail to pick up the number allocated to their brokerage within thirty (30) days from the start of the licence period. Administration committed to undertake a review of this clause and return a report to the August 26, 2020 Council meeting with an interpretation and how it would be applied.
None with respect to this report.
To allow brokers the assurance that a seasonal licence would not be reallocated without notice, The Taxi Bylaw, 1994 could be amended to include that written notification to the broker is required prior to reallocating a licence, whereby an additional thirty (30) days is provided to pick up the seasonal licence before it can be reallocated to another broker.
None with respect to this report.
In the City of Regina, seasonal taxicab licences have been used to meet increased demand during the winter months. Since 2012, The Taxi Bylaw, 1994 has included a method to reallocate seasonal taxicab licences if necessary. The process outlines that licences not picked up by the brokers within thirty (30) days of the start of the seasonal licence period (October 1) may be reallocated to alternates from the temporary taxicab owner’s licence lottery or drawn from a seasonal taxicab lottery. During the period of October 2017 through April 2020, when a portion of the seasonal taxicab licences were issued through a lottery, unclaimed licences could be issued solely to seasonal lottery applicants.
Since seasonal taxicab licences are once again only issued to brokers and temporary taxicab licences are no longer issued, potential recipients for unclaimed seasonal taxicab licences was changed in July 2020 to other brokers. The bylaw wording is as follows:
“14. (5) Where a taxicab broker fails to pick up the number of seasonal taxicab owner’s licences allocated to that broker within 30 days after the start of the seasonal licence period set out in subsection (1) or where a seasonal taxicab licence is revoked or returned for any reason, the Licence Inspector may reallocate the licence to another broker.”
It is important that a process be in place to ensure taxicab capacity is available to meet demand, especially during the winter months when demand is typically higher. It must also be noted that the reallocation of seasonal licences is discretionary. The flexibility in the bylaw allows the brokers the ability to operationalize the seasonal licence as required and allows the city the ability to reallocate a licence when necessary.
Before a seasonal licence would be reallocated, a number of factors would be considered including the reason the seasonal licence is available (revoked, returned or not picked up), overall demand of for-hire transportation services, ability of another broker to operationalize the taxicab licence and contract commitments of the current broker and their plan to utilize the seasonal licence in the current licence period.
Should the Licence Inspector determine the immediate need for the seasonal licence, this would be communicated to the broker that received the initial allocation so they would have the opportunity to operationalize the licence before it was reallocated. Should any licences be reallocated, the reallocation would only apply to the current seasonal period.
Allocation for the following seasonal period would continue as prescribed in The Taxi Bylaw, 1994 and be issued in proportion to the brokers current share of regular taxicab licences.
Although not all seasonal licences issued to the brokers in the past have been utilized, the Licence Inspector has not reallocated any of these licences.
Administration does not recommend changes to this portion of the bylaw.
CPS20-6 Taxi Bylaw Review was presented to the Community and Protective Services Committee at its February 6, 2020 meeting. During consideration of the report, a request for a supplemental report to discuss an option to create an exemption from the general rules for the use of technology for data collection and submission for single vehicle, accessible taxi only brokers.
CR20-15 was presented to Council at the February 26, 2020 meeting. The report was referred back for Administration to provide additional information comparing the regulations for taxi and transportation network companies.
CPS20-10 was presented to the Community and Protective Services Committee at its June 3, 2020 meeting. The report was recommended to be forwarded to the June 24, 2020 Council meeting as an informational report.
CR20-53 was presented to Council at the June 30, 2020 meeting. The recommendations contained in the report were approved.
CM20-16 was presented to Council at the June 30, 2020 meeting. The recommendations contained in the report were approved.
Bylaw 2020-51 was introduced and received final reading at the July 29, 2020 Council meeting.
Respectfully Submitted, Respectfully Submitted,
Dawn Schikowski, Manager Licensing & Parking Services 8/20/2020 Byron Werry, City Solicitor 8/20/2020
Prepared by: Dawn Schikowski, Manager, Licensing & Parking Services