By James Tubb
BELLEVILLE – The city of Belleville will allow ride sharing services to operate on a temporary basis.
Council decided on Monday to waive the current by-law on a temporary status and allow ride sharing services to begin operating in Belleville. The decision comes from a growing concern surrounding the current taxi companies that serve the city and their lack of availability.
Councillor Chris Malette who introduced the the ride sharing idea to council was very vocal on Monday about the city waiving the current by law and bringing in the services.
“It is a time in the city where transit is doing all that it can, existing taxi services, despite being invited to meet the demand, are dropping the ball,” he said.
“The time has come for ride sharing service.”
Council approved the staff recommendation that enforcement of the current by-law be paused while a study is done, leading to new regulations that apply to both taxi companies and ride-sharing services.
The waiving of the by-law while in review will allow ride-sharing services such as Uride to open in the city soon.
At the October 13 council meeting, Vince Scott, the regional manager of URide, presented information to council regarding the companies services.
“This is our best solution for a responsible company that has expressed interest to fill a real need in our community,” Malette said.
Malette expressed to council how much the city needed the ride sharing services and provided a timely example of the need.
He said that this week at CFB Trenton, 62 troops were heading overseas to Kuwait and Iraq. Some of them were at a Belleville hotel where they waited for more than an hour on a taxi to get to the Trenton air base.
“Those are the kinds of stories we’ve been hearing from senior citizens who’ve missed doctors appointments or other medical appointments. Guests at hotels that can’t catch their trains,” Malette said.
Councillor Sean Kelly told a story at council of an 86-year-old who had to walk many kilometres to the grocery store because she could not get a taxi.
Coun. Kelly shared his displeasure with the taxi services in the city and informs council of another story where citizens were waiting for extended periods of time to get a ride home.
The city would like to institute ride sharing services as the weather gets colder and the holidays roll around as the volunteer run Operation Red Nose announced it would not be running this holiday season due to COVID-19. The introduction of ride sharing services would help take the potential strain away from the taxi services within the city.
“I say we need them here and this mornings example at the air base was just one more nail in the coffin for the poor service we are getting from our existing taxi service. I don’t believe we can wait any longer,” Councillor Malette said.
QNet News reached out to two taxi companies in Belleville for comment. Only Bluebird Taxi returned the call.
It’s owner, Colleen Sine, says she believes that the city is a long way from seeing ride sharing services here.
“They have overshot themselves here,” she said.
“They are going to really have to look into it before they allow it. They’ve opened up a can of worms.”
The motion to allow ride-sharing was amended and carried with the stipulation that any ride-sharing operation in Belleville must be registered and approved by the clerk during the by-law review.
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