Licence Application Decision

Transcription

1 Licence Application Decision (Taxi - New) Application # Applicant ANSARI, Abu Taher Trade Name (s) Address Current Licence Application Summary Related Applications: (for cross reference only) TAJ Weekend Taxi E. 44 th Avenue, Vancouver BC V5W 1W5 None Special Authorization: Passenger Directed Vehicles New taxi service with 1 vehicle to pick up passengers in Vancouver on Friday and Saturday evenings from 3 p.m. to 5 a.m., and any Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 a.m. where the following Monday is a statutory holiday. Rates Board Rule respecting Lower Mainland Taxicab Rates will apply. 83 individuals - E-Weekend Cabs- 3 p.m. - 5 a.m. Friday, Saturday and other special days. Each applicant, a member of the Pacific Coast Drivers Association, applied for 1 vehicle. Pacific Coast Co-Op Taxi 3 p.m. - 6 a.m. Friday, Saturday and other special days - Application is for 99 vehicles. AULAKH, Fatehbir S - Blue Tech Weekend Cab - 3 p.m.- 5 a.m. Friday, Saturday and special days as approved by the Board. Application is for 1 vehicle. CHAUDHRY, Irfan Ahmed - Taxi Driver - 3 p.m.- 5 a.m. Friday, Saturday and special days as approved by the Board. Application is for 1 vehicle. CHERE, Amit - Downtown Taxi - 3 p.m. - 6 a.m. Friday, Saturday and specified holidays. Application is for 1 vehicle. Publication Date November 14, 2012 Submissions Received Black Top Cabs Ltd. MacLure s Cabs (1984) Ltd. Vancouver Taxi Ltd. Yellow Cab Company Ltd. BC Taxi Association Board Decision The special authorization is refused. Page 1 Passenger Transportation Board Decision

2 Decision Date March 21, 2013 Panel Chair Don Zurowski Panel Member (s) Brenda Brown I. Board Considerations The Board may approve a licence application, if the Board considers that: (a) there is a public need for the service the applicant proposed to provide under any special authorization. (b) the applicant is a fit and proper person to provide that service and is capable of providing that service, and (c) the application, if granted, would promote sound economic conditions in the passenger transportation business in British Columbia. All three requirements must be met before the Board will approve an application. (Reference: section 28(1) of the Passenger Transportation Act). Applicants must decide how much information to provide to the Board. Applicants should consider the type, location and scope of the service they wish to provide. The Board has written various Guides to explain Board requirements. II. Background Abu Taher Ansari is applying to operate a weekend taxi service in the City of Vancouver. He seeks to operate one taxi under the trade name of TAJ Weekend Taxi. The vehicle proposed is a sedan and it would operate Friday and Saturday evenings from 3 p.m. to 5 a.m., and any Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 a.m. where the following Monday is a statutory holiday. The applicant claims he has over 11 years experience in the taxi industry. The Board received this application (313-12) on October 15, It was published in the Board s Weekly Bulletin on November 14, The delay in publishing was at the request of the applicant as he was out of the country for an extended period of time. The application included a section under a business plan heading. It outlined market analysis; marketing strategy; past and current employment letters; financial projections and the required disclosure forms. Page 2 Taxi Decision Passenger Transportation Board

3 III. Related Applications and Procedure The Board has a number of related applications before it. These applications are from drivers or drivers organizations who want to provide taxi service in Vancouver in the evenings on weekends and other high demand days. We will refer to these as applications for peak period taxi service in Vancouver. Pursuant to section 14 of the Passenger Transportation Act, the Board is considering these applications one immediately after the other. The 83 applications from members of the Pacific Coast Drivers Association will be combined and conducted at the same time. This is necessary because all 83 applicants provided common evidence of public need and other common documents. Therefore, the Board will be issuing 6 decisions. Details of the applications are as set out in Chart 1 below. Chart 1 Application Applicant Description Published in Number Weekly Bulletin Pacific Coast Number of Applications: 1 29-Aug-12 Co-Op Taxi - Vehicles: 99 3 p.m-6 a.m. Closed for submissions 13-Sep CHERE, Amit - Downtown Taxi Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday and other special days as approved by the Board Number of Applications: 1 Vehicles: 1 29-Aug Sept-12 3 p.m - 6 a.m. Between and Pacific Coast Drivers Association - E-Weekend Cab Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday and any Sunday/Monday where the Monday is a statutory holiday; Halloween night, New Year s Eve, St. Patrick s Day and Easter Sunday. Number of Applications: 83 Vehicles: 1 per applicant 3 p.m-5 a.m. 29-Aug-12 (1st set) 03-Oct-12 (2nd set) 18-Oct-12 Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday black and red days at the cruise ship terminals and other special occasion days. Page 3 Taxi Decision Passenger Transportation Board

4 CHAUDHRY, Irfan Ahmed IAN Weekend Taxi Number of Applications: 1 Vehicles: 1 3 p.m-5 a.m. 17-Oct-12 1-Nov AULAKH, Fatehbir S - Blue Tech Weekend Cab Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday and special days as approved by the Board. Number of Applications: 1 Vehicles: 1 3 p.m-5 a.m. 24-Oct-12 8-Nov ANSARI, Abu Taher - TAJ Weekend Cab Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday and other special days as approved by the Board. Number of Applications: 1 Vehicles: 1 14-Nov Nov-12 3 p.m-5 a.m. Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday and any Sunday/Monday where the Monday is a statutory holiday. IV. Submissions on Application and Applicant s Reply Five entities made submissions on this application. The Board gives more weight to submissions that back up general claims with facts or details. All submissions were sent to the applicant who replied. We have considered these submissions and the applicant s reply. The following outlines the submissions received. The applicant s response, which is common to the two submissions, follows. Black Top Cabs Ltd.; MacLure s Cabs (1984) Ltd.; Vancouver Taxi Ltd.; Yellow Cab Company Ltd. (Vancouver taxi companies) The 4 taxi companies submitted, on November 29, 2012, a common submission through their counsel, Zachary Ansley, Owen Bird Law Corporation. The Vancouver companies rely on and repeat their objections to the related applications of the 83 members of the Pacific Coast Drivers Association, Pacific Coast Co-Op Taxi, CHERE, Amit, AULAKH, Fatehbir S and CHAUDHRY, Irfan Ahmed. Moreover, the recent PT Board decisions of October 2, 2012 have dramatically increased the supply of licensed taxis in Page 4 Taxi Decision Passenger Transportation Board

5 Vancouver during weekend peak periods. This application cannot satisfy the requirements for public need or sound economic conditions in the passenger transportation business. B.C. Taxi Association (BCTA) The BCTA submits that the applicant will not be able to establish unmet public need once the 137 taxis approved in the Board s October 2, 2012 decisions start operating. If more are needed, the suburban taxi companies still have excess capacity. The applicant does not have experience as a taxi owner with the added obligations and responsibilities. Applicant s response The submitters are not the drivers. They are the key players who have monopolized the taxi industry. An individual cannot finance a study to establish public need. The procedural setup to grant licences is more supportive to wealthy companies and not to the drivers. Granting a licence to an individual will set a milestone to end the unjust gain of monetary benefits by the existing taxi owners. V. Reasons for the Board s Decision In this application, the Board is considering public need and sound economic conditions in the transportation industry before applicant fitness. (a) Is there a public need for the service that the applicant proposes to provide under special authorization? Applicants should show the Board that there is a public need for a new taxi service. Applicants may show public need with the following types of information: letters from prospective passengers, signed contracts, population data, community plans, other relevant material. Page 5 Taxi Decision Passenger Transportation Board

6 The Board often finds comments written by potential passengers more useful than precompleted surveys or petitions. The Board also reviews business plans and financial statements. The applicant detailed the following as evidence of public need. 1. Findings of Dr. Chow s report. The evidence shows that the 65 temporary permits reduced the wait times and increased customer satisfaction. The applicant cited Dr. Chow s statistical findings and included the Vancouver taxi companies detailed report with the results of the Peak Period Demand & Supply of Taxi Study. 2. Various media reports and editorials were attached. The Sightline Editorial by Vines Homes commented that Vancouver has fewer cabs per capita and higher fares than many major US cities. Media report stressing the need for late night transit service. Media item that the City of Vancouver calls for more cabs. A paper that was presented on price of fares deregulation along with the deregulation of taxi numbers and driver welfare. 3. Pacific Coast Drivers Association s study was cited. The applicant has stated this study shows taxi demand is increasing due to: BCs stricter drinking and driving laws. Growing tourism and the cruise ship business. Public transit limited at late hours. Vancouver police concerns for crowd management. 4. The City of Vancouver Administrative Report dated March 16, 2012 that supports the 4 Vancouver taxi companies to operate on weekend evenings and other peak demand days was included. The applicant states that the support material presented shows a need to add 20% to the current taxi fleet size. There were no independent letters of support related to public need included. The Board has recognized that more taxis are required to serve the Downtown Vancouver Entertainment District. In the Board s Licence Application Decisions on Peak Period Taxi Page 6 Taxi Decision Passenger Transportation Board

7 Service in the City of Vancouver, October 2, 2012 (the omnibus decision ) the Board found that 137 vehicles would address peak period taxi demand on weekends in the Downtown Vancouver Entertainment District. Public need for peak period taxis was addressed in the omnibus decision, which includes Board decisions on 21 applications relating to peak period taxi service in the City of Vancouver. These applications predated the current application and were from 4 Vancouver taxi companies and 17 other taxi companies ( suburban taxi companies ) in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Sixteen of these suburban taxi applications were published in July Since April 2011, the 4 Vancouver taxi companies had been operating 65 additional vehicles under Temporary Operating Permits (TOPs) and in February 2012 they applied collectively for 99 additional vehicles. The Board conducted proceedings for these 21 applications at the same time. The Board s decision for these 21 applications were made and published before the Ansari application was published. The approvals for the 137 vehicles were as follows: 38 vehicles from 7 existing suburban taxi fleets may be allocated to the Downtown Vancouver Entertainment District on Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. 99 additional identifiers were approved for the 4 Vancouver taxi companies. These taxis may operate in the City of Vancouver on Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. The Vancouver taxi companies may also use their 99 additional vehicles on heavy traffic days at cruise ship terminals, Celebration of Light and other special occasion or event days as approved by the Board. In making its decision, the Board gave consideration to the Peak Demand and Supply of Taxis in Vancouver s Downtown Entertainment District: Final Report, Garland Chow, February 27, 2012 (the Chow Report ), commissioned by the 4 Vancouver taxi. The Chow Report provided empirical evidence of demand for taxis on weekends in Downtown Vancouver. Dr. Chow recommended that between 100 and 154 more taxis could be added to service the downtown core on weekend evenings. Page 7 Taxi Decision Passenger Transportation Board

8 When the omnibus decisions are fully implemented there will 137 peak period taxis available to serve the Downtown Vancouver Entertainment District. This is 72 more taxis than are operating now under TOPS. As a result of the Board s omnibus decisions, the potential supply of peak period weekend taxis has increased by over 23%. Furthermore, 99 peak period taxis will be available to provide service on other high demand days. In light of this, as well as the limited evidence supplied in the application, there is no compelling evidence before the Board to justify the addition of one taxi to the peak period taxi supply in the City of Vancouver. The market and taxi industry need time to absorb the additional capacity currently approved for the Downtown Vancouver Entertainment District (once all vehicles are put into service.) For the reasons outlined above, the Board finds that, at this time, there is no public need for the peak period taxi service the applicant is proposing. (b) Would the application, if granted, promote sound economic conditions in the passenger transportation business in British Columbia? The Board looks at how additional taxis could affect taxi service in an area. An application will not be refused just because other taxi companies have a licence. The overall health and quality of taxi services is more important than the interests of one taxi company. The submitters expressed concern about adding more taxi licences until 137 weekend taxis are operational and their impact assessed. The Board finds these concerns relevant to any application for additional peak period taxis. To maintain a viable taxi industry and improve service, supply and demand requires monitoring. It would not benefit drivers or companies if there were an over-supply of taxis. At this time, approving the application of Mr. Ansari to operate one peak period taxi in the City of Vancouver would not promote sound economic conditions in the transportation business. Page 8 Taxi Decision Passenger Transportation Board

9 (c) Is the applicant a fit and proper person to provide that service and is the applicant capable of providing that service? The Board looks at fitness in two parts: (i) is the applicant a fit and proper person to provide the proposed service; and (ii) is the applicant capable of providing that service? The Board reviews the conduct of an applicant and the structure of the existing or proposed operations. Does the applicant seem to understand passenger transportation laws and policies? Is the business set up to follow these laws? Is there something in the applicant s background that shows it disregards the law? Applicants must show that they have the resources and skills to manage the service that want to operate. The Board gets much of this information from business plans and financial statements. As the requirements for public need and sound economic conditions have not been met, the Board has not made any determination on the applicant s fitness. VI. Conclusion This application is refused. Page 9 Taxi Decision Passenger Transportation Board