Columnist Mike Smyth writes about the plan by the Vancouver taxi industry to set up its own ride-for-hire app and keep Uber out of the local market.
The taxi industry is making a last-minute pitch to keep Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing smartphone apps out of B.C., the last major jurisdiction in North America where the services are still illegal.
The taxi monopoly’s alternative suggestion: a made-in-B.C. ride-for-hire app with profits flowing back to the taxi companies.
The Vancouver Taxi Association has struck a tentative agreement with wealthy Surrey businessman Monty Sikka to develop a ride-for-hire app called Kater, with 20 per cent of the profits remaining with taxi firms.
The deal is outlined in a three-page “letter of intent” that I obtained exclusively. The document, which you can read below, calls for the licensing of 200 “Kater Cabs,” which would operate like Uber cars.
Mike Smyth – The Province – July 19, 2018.
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