A Surrey tech company looks set to help Lower Mainland taxis get a head start against potential ride-hailing rivals like Lyft and Uber Technologies Inc.
Photo: Kater
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says the 麻豆传媒映画Taxi Association (VTA) has recently entered an agreement with Kater Technologies Inc. to use the latter鈥檚 app in 鈥渟ome taxis鈥� in the region.
Kater bills itself as a ride-hailing app currently in beta testing that would charge a base fare of $3.20 plus 55 cents per minute or else $1.84 per kilometre.
鈥淭he Ministry, through the Passenger Transportation Branch [PTB], is taking steps to ensure that all current provincial and licensing requirements are met including a regular, government approved safety inspection of the vehicles, insurance that will cover the carrying of paying passengers and compliance with licence boundaries and other requirements until the fall of 2019 when new regulations will come into force that will allow ride-hailing companies to enter the market,鈥� the Ministry of Transportation said in a January 8 statement to聽Business in Vancouver.
The provincial government announced in November聽, paving the way for companies like Lyft and Uber to successfully enter B.C.
But B.C. Transportation Minister Claire Trevena would not commit to a firm date for when ride-hailing services would likely arrive.
鈥淎s soon as ICBC gets that product in place, we鈥檒l be able to move on that and then it鈥檚 a part of how quickly PTB can move,鈥� Trevena said at the time.
鈥淲e are working as quickly as we can. We were left with problems at ICBC.鈥�
It鈥檚 unknown how long it will take the cabinet-appointed PTB to approve any applications but the government said legislation should allow ride-hailing companies to enter the B.C. market later this year.
VTA spokeswoman Carolyn Bauer did not immediately reply to a phone call from聽BIV聽(an outgoing voicemail message stated she was out of the office until January 15).
Kater representatives did not respond to a message from聽BIV.
