Guelph Taxi Inc., one of the three taxi companies legally allowed to operate within the city of Guelph, had its license revoked by police on Sept. 29, 2015. The company’s license was revoked after a police investigation into the business found that the company did not adhere to one of the city’s bylaws. The bylaw requires that taxi companies operating within Guelph must have easy customer access to their headquarters and all-day/all-week dispatching.
As Guelph police are tasked with ensuring that taxi companies comply with bylaws, they routinely conduct visits to the various taxi dispatching offices within the city. However, in this case, the police were notified of the issue through the Guelph Mercury.
The Mercury received complaints from customers trying to contact Guelph Taxi in August 2015, and decided to investigate the issue by attempting to contact the business. The Mercury’s lack of success in August led to further efforts by the police to investigate the company, leading to the revocation of Guelph Taxi’s operating license.
Guelph Taxi responded to the revocation of their license with the following statement published by the CBC:
“We have received your email and can assure you that we are in full compliance with the municipal taxi bylaws. However, we will give you a response to the improper revocation of our license by the Guelph police as soon as possible.”
The taxi company is able to appeal to the police services board that oversees this issue. However, the company does not appear likely to move forward with an appeal at this time.
Within two days of the license revoction, a large “for lease” sign was seen hanging from Guelph Taxi’s offices at 47 Willow Road. As of Oct. 1, the office sits empty. Additionally, the company’s fleet of five cars has not been seen on Guelph roads since the revocation of Guelph Taxi’s operating license.
Both Canadian Cab and Red Top Taxi, the two remaining taxi companies in Guelph, have publicly come forward with statements in favour of the police’s action.
“We’re some people’s only source of transportation at night and during holidays,” said Joe Morrison, Canadian Cab’s president, in an interview with the Guelph Tribune. “We have to be available to take someone to the hospital, or work, or school. This isn’t an open-at-nine, close-at-five kind of business.” Though Canadian Cab and Red Top Taxi are the only two official taxi companies operating in Guelph, the popular ride-sharing company Uber also operates within the city. However, under Guelph bylaws, Uber does not have a license to operate as a cab company within the city.
The Uber issue is further clarified in a statement by Guelph police chief Jeff DeRuyter, published by the CBC: “We have a legislation, and so for the regulated [companies] it’s to make sure they comply with the bylaw and for those that aren’t regulated, we’ve been using the Highway Traffic Act as far as enforcement against Uber.”
This means that Guelph still considers the ride-sharing program to be illegal within the current structure of its taxi bylaws. This may change in the future, as the police board is looking into amendments to the bylaws.