UBER C-K hitting the brakes, taxi bylaw review underway

Organizers with UBER Chatham-Kent are hitting the brakes, but they are still inching forward.

Meanwhile, Chatham-Kent officials say a comprehensive review of the taxi bylaw is underway.

The local UBER group indicted on social media that a February 1 launch is not happening.

“We are on the right path, but we’ll need to move a little slower,” the group posted.

“We had a series of meetings and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent is in the process of getting information together regarding the service, along with a review of the taxi by-law. The municipality is planning to have a report ready for the public in March. It’ll then to go to council in April.”

UBER public meet and greet set

Florin Marksteiner, who spearheaded the local initiative to bring UBER to Chatham-Kent, confirmed the group will not be hitting the road on February 1, as originally planned.

However, Marksteiner has organized a public meet and greet and information session for January 31 at 7 p.m. at the John D. Bradley Convention Centre.

“We’ll have a lot of answers for a lot of questions and where the community will be able to learn more about the service,” Marksteiner told the Sydenham Current.

“We hope to have members of the council and maybe even Mayor Hope joining us.”

A petition to bring UBER to Chatham-Kent has also been launched.

In about one month, a total of 39 people have signed the petition.

Chatham-Kent looking at taxi bylaw

Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope said today he’s confident a review of the municipality’s taxi bylaw will include a comprehensive look at the various options brought about by increasing use of cell phone and app technology.

“We’re striving for something that respects the businesses in our community which currently operate fee-for-hire taxi services and also recognizes that there is a changing landscape in the field,” Hope said in a press release.

Hope said he personally has no issue with emerging technologies which help provide services as long as they operate within the boundaries of the new bylaw.

Municipal officials say council directed staff to prepare a service review of the taxi industry and use of private transportation companies last October.

“The municipality currently has a bylaw to help ensure that residents using taxi services can do so with a degree of confidence so that they know drivers have a proper licence, a police record check and insurance,” Hope said.

The municipal review of issues such as licensing fees, rates, PTCs (Private Transportation Companies such as UBER and Lyft) and accessible transportation, involves gathering information from the industry, the public and interested groups.

“We’re not here to discourage entrepreneurs but we still have a role to play,” Hope said.

Public consultation is expected in March and a report to council will follow in April, municipal officials say.

“We value the opinion of the public and encourage them to express their viewpoints,” Hope said.

50 people signed up as drivers

About 50 men and women have signed up to become UBER drivers in Chatham-Kent, and training is already underway.

“We do have drivers from the entire region,” Marksteiner said.

The group is being prepared to become UBER drivers, including signing up in the UBER Drivers Database, having police checks issued and submitted, having the vehicles safety checked, submitting the ownership and insurance documents to the headquarters to be checked and processed and going through special training.

“I wanted to create this training course so our drivers team (can) become one of the most professional ones around,” Marksteiner said.

“Our drivers will be comfortable and prepared to accept rides at a certain standard. We want to provide the best to our Chatham-Kent family because this is going to be community driving community.”

Marksteiner says UBER is a natural progression for Chatham-Kent, and will help complete the taxi service for the community.

“As we know at this moment there are only around 50 cabs available, after one of the companies closed, for the entire region where we have about 120,000 people,” he said.

“UBER is needed in Chatham-Kent.”

Marksteiner said UBER will create an income for people who have lost their jobs and it provides people a comfortable and affordable way of transportation.

“It boosts the night life by deploying a big group of ‘designated drivers’ when needed,” Marksteiner said.

“It will help the local economy by allowing more citizens to decide to go out for entertainment and of course it creates a healthy competition that forces the industry to get better.”

You can follow along with the latest news about the group, by following them on Facebook, here. https://www.facebook.com/uberckont/

Poll question results

We asked our readers if they wanted UBER in Chatham-Kent, and here are the results:

Do you want UBER available in Chatham-Kent?

No 59.59% (146 votes)

Yes 40.41% (99 votes)

Total Votes: 245

Watch for more on this story.

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