Uber and Lyft only have to wait a couple of months before they are allowed to operate in Winnipeg after City Council voted in favour of a new ridesharing by-law on Wednesday, December 13, 2017.
Council’s support today of a new bylaw allowing ridesharing in Winnipeg as early as March 2018 provides greater choice for consumers and represents a tremendous opportunity to move us forward as a city! pic.twitter.com/pKcpeoCtQN
— Brian Bowman (@BrianTDBowman) December 13, 2017
After spending more than eight hours debating over allowing ridesharing council voted 10-6 in favour of it.
Ridesharing drivers will be required to have the same criminal background checks as taxi drivers and will also be required to have their vehicles certified to the same safety standard as cabs. Ridesharing vehicles will not be required to have safety shields installed.
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The by-law does not set any limits on the number of ridesharing vehicles that will be allowed on the road but will be permitting taxi drivers to use diamond lanes for a one year trial. An additional 60 taxi licences will be made available in March of 2018 with 60 more being added at the end of 2018.
As part of the new regulation, Ridesharing vehicles will not be allowed to pick up passengers who flag them down nor will they be allowed to accept cash.
It is expected that Winnipegers will be able to use the new services as of March 1, 2018.
-Staff-
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