More rubber may soon be hitting the road in Richmond’s taxi industry, after a city council committee approved the use of 14 more cabs.
Richmond Cabs Ltd (RCL) has successfully applied to the city to introduce 10 more conventional taxis and four “accessible” taxis, boosting their fleet to 112, the majority of which serve YVR.
In its submission to the city, RCL – which already had the go-ahead from the provincial Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) – said it needed more cabs to maintain its 10-minute service promise and also to combat the imminent threat of ride-sharing operation Uber.
To allow the additions to take place, the city had to amend the business licence bylaw to increase the maximum amount of taxis in Richmond to 172.
In approving the application on Monday at city council’s general purposes committee, Coun. Carol Day said that she firmly believed in “opening this up,” as the “service isn’t good” in Richmond.
A report by the PTB also indicated that demand for RCL taxis has grown by 10 per cent for regular cabs and 25 per cent for accessible cabs, due, in part, to the opening of the McArthurGlen shopping mall.
As well as being one of the primary service providers at YVR, RCL has the exclusive contracts for the Sheraton, Marriott and Hilton hotels in Richmond.
