B.C. is a step closer to ride-sharing like Uber and Lyft, but those services still won’t be here anytime soon.
The province rolled out legislation today for ride sharing, which will give significant power to the Passenger Transportation Board.
The PTB will set fares, vehicle supply and operating routes, which restricts the authority local governments will have.
Ride-sharing companies won’t be able to apply for business licenses until the fall of 2019, which is when ICBC is expected to have a “modern insurance product” ready for the service.
Transportation Minister Claire Trevena says ICBC had to wait for this legislation to be in place.
“We’ve been working as quickly as we can, we were left with problems in ICBC which we’re still working through. ICBC is working as quickly as they can,” Trevena says. “It’s priority has been to try and fix the problems it was facing. It’s now turning it attention, while still trying to deal with that more than billion-dollar mess that was left by the previous government, it’s now turning it’s attention to this.”
Meanwhile, all ride-hailing drivers will need a Class 4 commercial class driver’s license.
When asked if ride-sharing will be in place by Christmas of 2019, Trevena only said agencies involved are “working as quickly as they can.”
The B.C. government had said in 2017 that ride-sharing would be rolled out by the end of 2017.