City recommends no minimum fares, no cameras for ride-sharing

There will be no cameras in the vehicle when people can eventually take an Uber or Lyft in the city of Regina.

During an Executive Committee on Jan. 16, administration was asked to look into several unaddressed areas of ride-sharing, including a minimum fare requirement, cameras in the vehicles and whether drivers needed a class 4 licence.

The new report from admin goes before city council Monday.

Cameras

In Regina, taxis are required to have cameras that record both audio and video. The cameras must be tamper-proof and always running and only accessible by the Regina Police Service.

Administration found that putting cameras in ride-sharing vehicles – which first and foremost are personal vehicles – “would significantly infringe on the driver’s family’s privacy by recording personal engagement in a private vehicle.”

Additionally, no other Canadian municipality has included such a requirement. The cities of Ottawa and Calgary have studied the issue and determined cameras are not necessary in business models like Uber or Lyft.

Minimum Fares

Taxis in Regina charge a base fare that cannot be over $4 and administration looked into levying the same sort of requirements on ride-sharing companies. However, because taxis don’t have a minimum fare required (they only have a fare that can be a maximum of $4) administration isn’t recommending minimum fares for ride-sharing.

Administration also noted, unlike with taxis in Regina, that people using ride-sharing apps are informed of the cost before booking the trip.

Licensing

Throughout the process of bringing ride-sharing to the Queen City there had been a lot of debate over whether drivers would be required to have a class 4 licence like the one that, up until recently, was required for taxi drivers.

But as of Dec. 14, both taxi and ride-sharing drivers can have a basic Class 5 licence.

Class 5 licenses don’t require a medical report like a class 4 does, however, drivers and doctors are required to report any medical issues to SGI that could impact driving.

Furthermore, administration found that cities in Saskatchewan cannot change the licence requirements anyway as driver licensing is a provincial responsibility.

If the vote is passed by council Monday night, ride-sharing could hit Regina as soon as March.

You can find the report fired by city administration here.