Uber and companies like it are now officially legal in Ottawa.
The City of Ottawa's new Vehicle-For-Hire bylaw has come into effect, after being approved by City Council in April.
This comes just shy of two years after Uber first entered the Ottawa market, operating in contravention of the existing taxi bylaw.
Dozens of drivers have been charged in the interim, paying tens of thousands of dollars in fines.
But as of Friday, September 30, 2016, private transportation companies (PTCs) can operate in the city legally, after applying for a license and agreeing to follow several regulations.
License fees range from $807 a year to $7,253 a year, depending on how many vehicles a company has in its fleet. PTCs must also have at least $5 million in commercial liability insurance and $5 million in Non-Owned Automobile insurance, and each individual driver must obtain suitable insurance for part-time drivers providing transportation services for compensation.
The company must also pay the City a fee of 11 cents per ride.
All drivers must submit mandatory police vulnerable sector checks, a statement of driving record and a Ministry of Transportation safety standards certificate for vehicles to the company. Their vehicles cannot be more than 10 years old, and must undergo biannual inspections if they're more than five years old.
PTCs are also prohibited from picking up hailing passengers on the street or using taxi stands. All rides must be arranged through a pre-arranged app.
The rules for taxis are also changing. The standard taxi driver license fee has dropped to $96, from $170. The $170 taxi driver license fee for accessible taxis has been eliminated. Taxi vehicles can now be up to 10 years old, instead of the previous eight, and taxi companies can now use a variable pricing model when rides are booked through an app.
Speaking on CFRA's News and Views with Rob Snow, councillor Riley Brockington says he does not regret voting to legalize PTCs.
"I certainly supported the new framework to allow private transportation companies to enter the Ottawa market," Brockington said. "Certainly, Uber was the catalyst when they arrived in late 2014."
Councillor Rick Chiarelli tells Rob Snow not every regulation he was seeking was agreed to, but he feels the rules may change again as the market adapts.
"Through the entire process, I wanted the same requirements placed on Uber that are placed on taxis, the same safety requirements, and the same requirement for cameras," Chiarelli said. "We didn't win on that, but we'll see how this works out. I suspect that if we have any really significant incidents we'll be actually revisiting some of these regulations and bringing the two closer together.
"But progress will happen," Chiarelli adds. "There will be Uber, or something like it, now, and in five years we're probably headed toward autonomous or driverless cars in that type of situation so things will move on. But, I think, in do that, we have to remember why we regulated the taxi industry and why each of those regulations were put in place to protect residents. At some point we're going to have to decide which ones of these actually matter and have them apply to both."