Kamloops city staff say they welcome any ride-hailing company that wants to come here and work.

Business license inspector Dave Jones says the city hasn’t brought forward any concerns for applications that have come forward.

“From a business license perspective, we could look at and define if there’s an area they could or couldn’t operate in, or how they were going to operate, whether it would contravene any of our bylaws. But at this point in time… we welcome any company that wants to come to Kamloops and work.”

He says the independent Passenger Transportation Board has no dialogue with the city when it comes to why they approve or deny licenses.

“It’s kind of left up to the company to make the application and contact the City of Kamloops. We’re still hopeful that someone will be approved and that someone will offer a ride-hail program in Kamloops. I think there’s definitely a need, I think there’s definitely some interest. I know there’s been other applications put in.”

There are 11 ride hailing companies who have applied for the Kamloops area. Nine are waiting for a decision from the PTB, and two others – Kater and Re-Ryde – had their applications denied yesterday. Two local taxi companies wrote submissions to the PTB on Kater and Re-Ryde”s applications, but the PTB refused to say to NL News what the details of those applications were.

A 12th prospective ride hailing company in this region, called Sun Peaks Taxi, withdrew its applications in the fall.