A new plan being proposed to ease the cab crunch has some drivers concerned that they’ll be forced to take shifts they’d rather not take.
The goal of the new plan is to make it easier to catch a cab late at night, especially during weekends and big events like Stampede, New Year’s Eve, or during weather events.
Calgary’s taxi regulator wants to have every licenced cab on the road during these times.
Marc Halat, with the City of Calgary, says that service levels aren’t where they should be and hopes to change that through the new plan.
Drivers, say they don’t think it’s fair to have to work a night shift if they don’t want to.
“I don’t want to work at nighttime because I get a lot of trouble,” says driver Mohammad Siddique.
Riders, like Justin Ball, are supportive of any plan that helps him get a ride. “It’s challenging even getting through to the numbers so, whatever the city can do to ease that burden, full support for sure.”
Halat says the city is seeking to dictate service, not hours or schedules of drivers. “We’re not trying to dictate hours. We’re trying to dictate service. This is not a service, five days a week, finishing at 5 o’clock.”
The proposed plan went before city council on Friday morning and the discussion got quite heated at times.
The proposal was for information purposes and stakeholders have until March 10th to put in counter proposals and ideas to the city.
