After being approved by city council last year, an additional 222 taxi licences were doled out through a lottery on Tuesday to a crowd of 2,772 hopefuls.
Dharamjit Parma was one of those in the crowd. His number wasn’t called, but he’s not sure it would have made much of a difference anyway. “Now that Uber is here, I think it would be not much difference,” he said.
“Considering that we have to pay rent all the time with the established companies. I think Uber is much better for new starts … for the people who are not associated with this conventional taxi industry.”
He said ride-hailing companies offer more flexibility and don’t require the steep rents drivers have to pay to drive a taxi.
CBC News – Jan 24, 2017.