City staff in Kamloops say eight ride-hailing companies have applied to operate in the region.

Business License Inspector Dave Jones is part of a ride-sharing working group with the Ministry of Transportation, and he says it’s unclear if all of those companies intend to operate in Kamloops specifically.

And he also says it’s not clear how large their fleets will be.

“I’m not sure whether they’re asking for 300 or 400 cars or if they’re asking for a dozen cars. So there’s quite a few options in this new program, obviously the limousine services, the taxi services can also move into some of the ride-hailing programs,” he said. “So it’ll be interesting, once we see who decides to come into town and what kind of numbers we have.”

Jones adds it’s unclear exactly when the first ride-hailing vehicles will be on Kamloops streets.

“They’ve received applications that indicate ride hailing companies will want to do business in Kamloops,” Jones said. “They are reviewing those applications at this point in time, and hopefully we’ll see 3 or 4 of those companies come to Kamloops.

The licensing zone for ride-sharing for Kamloops also includes the Okanagan, Shuswap, Kootenay and Cariboo regions.

Multiple companies have committed to getting ride-hailing on the roads in Kamloops before the end of this year.