
The Uber app. (Photo via Uber)
The head of Uber’s operations in Western Canada indicates the company won’t have ride-sharing in the Kamloops-area anytime soon.
Uber has announced it will be coming to Metro Vancouver this year, but Michael van Hemmen says the need for a Class-4 license is not conducive for ride-sharing in smaller municipalities.
“We want to be able to operate in Kamloops, but the rules that have been put in place have made that very prohibitive. What we continue to do is engage the government on smart policies that would allow us to be able to operate in more places than just Metro Vancouver,” van Hemmen says.
“We don’t understand why a person who wants to ride share in their Toyota Corolla needs to write a test to drive a minibus which has 25 passengers. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Lyft and Kater also have indicated they don’t plan to operate outside of the Vancouver area right away because of current provincial rules.