By James Peters

Ride-hailing

As Uber and Lyft balk at the B.C. Interior, smaller ride-hailing companies see opportunity

Sep 4, 2019 | 5:33 AM

KAMLOOPS — While ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft have no current plans to serve B.C. Interior cities like Kamloops, that can’t be said of all ride-hailing companies.

Edmonton-based TappCar has submitted its application to the Passenger Transportation Board to operate in four of the five B.C. regions. If approved, TappCar could serve the entire province with the exception of northern B.C. and areas such as the Sunshine Coast.

Company spokesman Pascal Ryffel says Uber and Lyft are concerned about B.C.’s controversial Class 4 license requirement for drivers, but TappCar embraces it.

“We don’t have a problem with that at all,” Ryffel told CFJC Today. “As a company, we’ve always been very focused on providing the best possible experience for our passengers and the highest level of safety. I think Class 4 absolutely makes sense for that and it will provide extra safety for passengers.”

“[Large ride-sharing companies] prefer to come in and demand that the rules be changed according to the way they like to operate. We don’t do that,” he continued.

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Though the Class 4 license requirement may be a barrier for some potential drivers, TappCar doesn’t believe it will be a problem.

“The recent numbers that have come out show that there are about 160,000… people in B.C. alone with Class 4 driver’s licenses,” said Ryffel. “That number is only going to go up as people are becoming interested in driving for services like TappCar.”

“As soon as our application is approved, we’re going to be very much ready to hit the ground running,” he said.

Meantime, Vancouver-based ride-hailing app Kater also has its eye on expansion into the Interior.

In an email response to a CFJC Today inquiry about operating in Kamloops, a Kater spokesperson said the ‘Okanagan’ is a key market for the company.

Kater launched on a limited basis in Vancouver in spring, using the existing taxi license framework.