By Greg Higgins

No plans for Uber in North Battleford yet

Dec 8, 2017 | 4:00 PM

The Uber ride-sharing service has been approved to establish itself in the province, but hasn’t set its sites on the Battlefords yet and the city says it is a bridge it will cross when they get to it.

According to North Battleford Mayor Ryan Bater, Uber has only expressed interest in setting up shop in Saskatoon and Regina. He said smaller communities, like North Battleford, have not been contacted by the company.

Bater added the topic hasn’t been a high priority for council either.

“I haven’t heard any of our citizens calling for this,” Bater said. “That’s not to say there isn’t any local interest, but I haven’t heard anything coming from the community in terms of demand for this service.”

Bater said the issue in North Battleford will be licensing. The city currently only issues one taxi license per 1,000 people. All of them are owned by Crown Cab; the only taxi company in the city.

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“We want to ensure the viability of that because we need that service in this community so that people can get around.”

Bater added there are a lot of questions about how Uber would affect the taxi industry in the city. He said if the city was to entertain the idea of introducing the ride-sharing app, there would have to be significant community engagement to determine if the public even wants the service.

Bater said one major thing the municipality would have to figure out is if Uber drivers would be required to have a license from the city.

“You need a special driver’s license which is what the province and SGI are working on and is the focus of the legislation. There are still municipal byelaws that Uber has to adhere to.”

Bater said council hasn’t spoke a word about Uber yet and likely won’t until the company expresses interest in establishing themselves in North Battleford.

greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins