604 Now
News

Taxi Companies File Injunctions Hoping To Get Uber & Lyft Off Roads By Next Week

Uber Vancouver Photo: Stock Catalog / Flickr

Photo: Quote Catalog / Flickr

Ride share companies Uber and Lyft finally began operations in Vancouver this past weekend, but taxi companies are not happy about it.

In fact nine Metro Vancouver taxi companies are heading to B.C. Supreme Court to stop them. They filed two charges, Monday. One is to immediately stop Uber and Lyft from running, while the other is a petition to quash their licences.

RELATED: Uber & Hyundai Reveal All-Electric Flying Ride-Share Taxi At CES 2020

“If the impugned decisions are not stayed,” the injuction application read, “those decisions will have a devastating and irreparable impact on the taxi industry and the livelihoods of taxi drivers in Metro Vancouver.”

The lawsuit comes nearly six months after the same group asked the B.C. Supreme Court to change the rules on ride-hailing. That originally included capping the number of ride-hailing licenses to 2,500, to be equal with taxi companies.

But Carolyn Bauer, a spokesperson for the Vancouver Taxi Association, said they dropped that, because the board had yet to finalize their rules.

When the board did finalize it, Uber and Lyft’s application had not changed their fleet size or pricing, accordingly.

“They completely lied to us,” Bauer said to CBC. “All we ever asked for is equality and fairness here.”

The petition showed there were less taxi calls during Uber and Lyft’s first week of services.

The injunction will be heard February 4, 2020.

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum is also opposed to Uber and Lyft. The city gave out 18 warning notices to Uber drivers throughout the weekend.

For more Vancouver stories, check out our News section.

[sjnow-ad-large-leaderboard]

 

Log in or create an account to save content

Become a local insider