Image Credit: Lucky to Go Canada

By James Peters

Ride-hailing

Passenger Transportation Board gives ride-sharing applicant for Kamloops a ‘no’

Dec 17, 2019 | 7:14 AM

VICTORIA — B.C.’s Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) has made its first decision involving a company applying to offer ride-sharing in the Kamloops area — and that decision is a firm ‘no’.

Victoria-based Lucky to Go had applied to the PTB in September to run a ride-hailing service on Vancouver Island and in the Interior’s Okanagan-Kootenay-Boundary-Cariboo region, which includes Kamloops.

The proposed business would have combined ride-sharing with parcel and food delivery.

But a series of entities, including both Kami Cabs and Yellow Cabs in Kamloops, wrote the PTB to express their opposition.

In its denial decision published online Monday (Dec. 16), the PTB expressed “significant concerns” with Lucky to Go’s proposal.

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Among those concerns, the board said Lucky to Go did not provide market information on its proposed areas nor evidence of driver supply.

The PTB noted the applicant emphasized its smart app technology but did not demonstrate an understanding of the passenger transportation business.

Also on Monday, the PTB approved its first ride-sharing application for the Tofino-based Whistle, which will offer ride-sharing in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island excluding Victoria.

The PTB has yet to issue decisions on the applications submitted by ride-sharing giants Uber and Lyft.