Taxi fare increase in Kingston, Ont. gets pushback from local cab companies
A cab ride in Kingston, Ont. will be more expensive starting next week, but even with high gas prices, some taxi drivers say they’re against too much of a meter increase.
Kevin Murphy has been driving his Number 6 taxi for more than 30 years, and has plans to retire in the next few years.
“It’s been a lot of work, and trust me a lot of headaches, and a lot of hours,” he says “And it worries me when this is being threatened.”
He says that’s because of an upcoming planned rate hike to taxi meters.
Beginning May 13, to get into a cab and start the meter will cost 25 cents more, at $4.50, then to travel across the city every few hundred metres will be an extra $0.10.
The large increase is something Murphy says will hurt their competitiveness against ride-share companies like Uber.
“That’s going to just put us out of the price rage of our customers that are on fixed incomes,” he explains.
The Kingston-Area Taxi Commission, which regulates the taxi industry, recommended the increase to compensate for higher gas prices.
Right now, Amey’s Taxi says figure shows that to take a cab from the Cataraqui Centre in the west end of the city into downtown, costs about $21.
Under the new rates, the cost would jump to more than $29.
In comparison, the cost of an Uber is now $24.
That’s an extra $5 for every trip, and $10 per round trip.
Amey’s Taxi Owner Mark Greenwood says the industry supports a rate hike only half of what the transit commission has recommended.
“We’ve dealt with two years through the pandemic, and we need to rebuild. It’s going to take two years to rebuild that,” he explains. “We think that this imposed rate hike would devastate this entire industry in the city.”
In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, the commission says it will now hold a meeting next week to review the decision ahead of the planned increase.
Murphy hopes the commission will lower the meter rate increase.
“Customers don’t want it. The brokers don’t want it. The majority of the drivers don’t want it. We’re scratching our heads trying to figure out what’s happening here.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.