The City of Regina executive committee wants a more in-depth report from administration before making a decision about ridesharing services.
At a meeting on Wednesday, the committee instructed administration to review costs, safety and accessability.
“It’s debatable what’s going to come out the other end of this review. We’ve asked for a lot of information both from the private industry, from Lyft in this case, and from the administration on more information related to the class of license to a whole list of information," Mayor of Regina Michael Fougere said.
Much of the discussion revolved around creating a level playing field for cab drivers and ridesharing services. Delegations representing taxi companies called for rideshare drivers to go through the same licensing process as cab drivers. Administration is recommending ridesharing companies receive licences. The company would then be responsible to follow bylaws and pay fees.
"Why don't they give the licence to the existing cab drivers, so they have more freedoms. The best way of leveling the playing field for existing drivers is to issue the Sask Plate licence to the drivers can own their own business too," United Steelworkers Local 2014 President Malik Draz said.
The cab companies also think all drivers for hire should require a class four license, even though current provincial rules only require a class five license
Many councilors also wanted answers surrounding safety.
If you have to have a camera in a taxi to give people a ride, you should have to have a camera in a rideshare. I think we're on a level playing field, everybody's giving people rides for money," taxi driver Tom Molema said.
Administration will again look at framework for ridesharing companies, and will report to the executive committee at a future meeting.
CTV originally reported that recommendations were going to council.
