In the stubborn delays to ride hailing, the BC NDP government has consistently argued it is waiting for the Insurance Corp. of British Columbia (ICBC) to create a plan for ride-hailing services so they can be offered.
But sources say ICBC has had well-defined plans for two or three years now. The delay, they say, is clearly the government – and how it wishes to make the B.C. version of ride hailing far less attractive for the likes of Uber and Lyft.
Sources with knowledge of ICBC’s operations say the agency has been studying ride hailing almost since its inception a decade ago and has long been ready to insure drivers. It has had plans “in a binder on a shelf” since the BC Liberals reigned, one source told me.
Two weeks ago, Premier John Horgan said the remaining piece was ICBC’s plan, which he said was expected later this year to permit applications for ride hailing this fall.
But another source was blunt: “It is unfair to lay this at the feet of the corporation.”
The previous Liberal government directed ICBC to create a level playing field with the taxi industry, and a plan was devised to do so. What isn’t clear – because this government won’t say – is how, or even if, the current administration has given ICBC clear direction on what to create.
Neither ICBC nor the attorney general would agree to an interview to clarify the situation. Instead, each sent along an emailed statement, which is sadly becoming par for the course in this era of government relations with media.
In its email, ICBC is being courteous to its political master. Its spokeswoman, Joanna Linsangan, writes: “There remains additionally regulatory matters to be addressed by government prior to ICBC being in a position to offer an insurance framework” to ride-hailing operators. But she notes ICBC has been working with government to prepare this framework since 2016.
That work preceded BC Liberal promises to introduce ride hailing by the end of 2017 – a promise now considered politically costly in the last election campaign, particularly in two Surrey ridings with strong connections to the taxi business. The NDP government has been shrewd in not rattling the cabbies’ cage.
Linsangan said ICBC is working with government to advance the regulations so it can apply to the BC Utilities Commission to then offer insurance to the industry. Between the lines of her statement – and based on what sources say – we can infer ICBC isn’t ragging the puck.
The attorney general’s ministry, for its part, says creating an appropriate insurance framework “is a complex task and we are taking the time to get it right.” It says it is working with other ministries and ICBC “to develop the right insurance product for this market,” but sheds some light by noting it “will be similar to what is offered in other jurisdictions, including those with private insurers” – a blanket certificate “that we anticipate will be usage-based.”
If it’s similar, one wonders why it is taking such time, unless it is to heavily influence the industry dynamic. Taking time, for instance, has permitted the taxi industry to partner with Surrey-based Kater Technologies Inc. to operate 140 app-hailing cabs in a pilot project starting this week. Critics see this as conferring an unfair first-mover advantage that will make the province even less attractive to Lyft and Uber.
Indeed, the province has been ceaselessly creating criteria, last week snubbing a legislative committee recommendation and insisting that drivers will need more onerous Class 4 licences to be ride-hailed.
The regime it is devising will be one without any real price break in fares, of caps on the number of ride-hailing vehicles that can roam at any time and boundaries on where they can drive, and of expensive insurance that will avoid further subsidizing the business.
As anyone who has summoned a vehicle in another city this decade can tell you, the drivers tend to be on a day off or with a few hours to spare from another job – yet this doesn’t appear to be the made-in-B.C. ride hailing we can expect.
The province is bringing typewriters to the word-processing world, and ICBC seems to be waiting to be told which ribbons to install. •
Kirk LaPointe is editor-in-chief of Business in Vancouver and vice-president, editorial, of Glacier Media.
