By Greg Fry

Kamloops MLA calls ride-sharing delay ‘ridiculous’

Jul 19, 2018 | 2:46 PM

KAMLOOPS — A Kamloops MLA who participated in an all-party legislative committee on ride-sharing earlier this year finds it “ridiculous” that the service likely won’t get going for another year-and-a-half in B.C.

Peter Milobar, the BC Liberal MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson, says it’s a case of the NDP breaking yet another promise.

“The fact that the premier promised we’d have ride-sharing by Christmas 2017, then it was updated to Christmas of 2018 and with today’s announcement it looks like we won’t even have it in place for Christmas of 2019 is frankly ridiculous.”

BC Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Claire Trevena attributed the delay to a couple of factors, including the need to bring in ride-sharing legislation this fall and to work with ICBC to enable a modern insurance product.

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But Milobar isn’t buying it.

“To say that it is going to take a year-and-a-half after all the preliminary work that’s been done over the years just seems like an excuse from the minister. At its core, this is the biggest problem, there seems to be an unwillingness to move anything with any speed through this ministry.”

He calls the delay “a bit of a political ploy.”

“They seem to have figured out a way to allow the taxi industry to have another year-and-a-half or two years with an app in play to try and gain some market share,” says Milobar.

“So, at a certain point the minister has to let the private sector compete. Nobody wants to see the taxi industry fail. But at the same time, to suggest that it’s going to take another year-and-a-half to come up with an insurance product does not seem right.”