It appears Kamloops may have its first ride-sharing vehicles on the streets this fall.

An Edmonton-based company called TappCar has applied to the Passenger Transportation Board to operate in four of the five ride-sharing regions in B.C.

Meanwhile, Uride, a ride-sharing company based in Thunder Bay, also has applied to the PTB to operate in Region 4 in B.C., as confirmed by its founder Cody Ruberto.

Region 4 includes all of the Thompson-Nicola region, as well as the Cariboo, Shuswap, Columbia, Okanagan, Similkameen, Boundary and Kootenay regions.

While other companies have said Class 4 licenses are a barrier for small municipalities like Kamloops – TappCar spokesman Pascal Ryffel says they don’t see it as an issue.

“For us, a Class 4 driver’s license has never been an issue. We work with that here in Alberta as well, and for us, here as a company, safety of our passengers is always paramount… Getting a Class 4 license is something that isn’t particularly difficult or time consuming or even expensive. And I think that driving for a company like TappCar is a great income opportunity. I think that naturally, people who don’t have a Class 4 driver’s license but are interested in driving, they will go ahead and get that license. I don’t think that’s an obstacle,” Ryffel says.

“I think for some of the larger ride share companies, they also try to pressure governments to bend the rules or change the rules in a way that makes it as easy as possible for them to operate. We don’t see the world that way, we think the safety and security of our passengers is more important than just reducing as many regulations as possible to make it easy for big companies to operate.”

Ryffel says TappCar could receive approval from the PTB within six to eight weeks, and he says the company expects to be ready to hit the roads in B.C. right away afterwards, and a similar timeline is expected for Uride.

(Photo: Facebook: TappCar)