With the news that Grande Prairie is reviewing a new bylaw that would offer services such as Uber and Lyft in the city, comes the question of if the same may be under revision for Peace River.
In conversation with Mayor Tom Tarpey, Peace River Broadcasting has learned that neither Uber or Lyft have voiced an interest in the town. Tarpey points out that a town of 8000 would not be able to support such a service in the way that the large populations of Grande Prairie and surrounding areas can. If Peace River were to get such services, council would have to amend the taxi bylaw. Tarpey says ” the whole purpose of the taxi bylaw is meant to protect the safety of the passenger. Key aspects of that bylaw are mechanical integrity checks of the vehicles and a criminal background check on the drivers and we would probably still want those screening criteria for anybody that has car for hire type service.”
The town will not be reconsidering a bus transit system since the ridership is not there. Tarpey says “the operation of a type of bus type service is prohibitive. It would be certainly more than a quarter of a million dollars. We would have to raise taxes to support that and even then it would be a limited service.”
The town of Peace River decided to put 179 thousand dollars into the local taxi pass program instead.The taxi pass program allows individuals with a lower income, access to transportation at a reasonable cost. The program is accessible to individuals making 15 thousand a year and families making 25 thousand a year. Community services director for the Town of Peace River, Tanya Bell, says that the program averages 22-thousand drives a year.
The town of Peace River is currently looking into initiatives to increase the number of taxi drivers in town.
-LG
