Rideshare services, such as Uber, could soon be headed for parts of cottage country. The province’s Ministry of Transportation has tabled a “Northern Rideshare Pilot” that will make it easier for these services to flourish up north. The pilot is intended to complement the return of the Northlander Train by providing more options for station-to-destination transportation.
Despite the massive popularity of rideshare apps in urban areas, these services have failed to take off in remote, rural, and northern regions. This is partly due to lower concentrations of customers (who are also more spread out than their southern Ontario counterparts) as well as a strong taxi industry. Additionally, most municipalities impose their own rideshare rules and regulations, making it even less appealing for an Uber driver to operate within their borders.
But in recent years, populations have grown substantially in rural areas and demand for more transportation options has grown along with them. When the Northlander begins operations later this year, this demand is only expected to grow.
The province’s first step towards meeting this demand and nudging the growth of these services northward is a pilot program that would homogenize rideshare regulations in communities along the Northlander rail path. This includes cottage country towns such as Bracebridge, Huntsville, and Gravenhurst. Currently, the pilot is proposed to come into effect in communities within a 30-kilometre radius of each station from Gravenhurst to Cochrane.
Encouraging the spread of rideshare services through regulatory reform will “improve first and last-mile connectivity along the [rail] corridor,” says the province in their proposal summary. And according to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, expanding rideshare access into underserved communities could add around $580 million in GDP growth for the province each year.
But some, namely taxi companies in Muskoka and other regions, have reservations. Mike Sanders, the owner of Aaron’s Taxi in Sudbury, Ont., and the representative for the Canadian Taxi Association, wrote an open letter to Premier Doug Ford. He takes issue with the overriding of municipal regulations by the province.
“My company employs almost 200 people, and our drivers benefit from the assurance they’ll receive the better of minimum wage or commission, with accessible drivers eligible for even more,” Sanders writes. “I’ve managed to do this while following the rules as they were written: municipal, provincial, and federal. I would expect anyone that enters this market to be obliged to do the same.”
There are also concerns that American apps, such as Uber and Lyft, could move in and take business from existing taxi companies, and others lament being informed about the pilot just weeks before it was proposed.
Norah Fountain, the executive director of the Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce, is cautiously optimistic about the pilot. “Any step toward better transportation in our area is a good step, but we have to ensure that our local providers are included,” she says. “If there’s ridesharing going on, I want them talking to our actual local taxi providers, some of whom have to jump through a lot of hoops to have their licenses.”
She also says the proposed 30-kilometre radius isn’t big enough and could result in lower service standards than what taxis already offer. “The pilot needs to reflect local travel patterns that regularly span multiple communities,” she says. “If you live in Bracebridge or Huntsville, you’re golden. But if you get off the train in Gravenhurst, [a rideshare service under the pilot] won’t get you to Minett, for example.” The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has the same concern and has recommended that the province expand the pilot zone.
The Northern Rideshare Pilot was proposed on March 20 and is now closed for comments. If approved, the pilot would kick off this spring or early summer and last for one year. If successful, the pilot could inform similar regulatory rideshare overhauls in other regions of the province.
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