The drop rate at Le Taxi is going up.
The current rate of $3.50 is being increased to $3.90.
Le Taxi is not proposing any changes to the hourly or per kilometres rates and those remain at $33 an hour and $2.30 a kilometre.
Le Taxi also requested that it be allowed to keep its cabs for 12 years instead of the maximum 10 years in an effort to keep replacement costs down.
However West Nipissing council opposed this and staff says 10 years for taxi vehicle is the industry standard before the vehicle needs to be replaced.
Council is making an exception with a van Le Taxi owns which is about 11 years old.
This is so the vehicle can be used to get people in wheelchairs to their destinations.
The van would have to pass a safety check.
Councillor Dan Roveda asked that the taxi bylaw include provisions for taxi vehicles to be able to accommodate wheelchair-bound people.
But Mayor Joanne Savage says the bylaw already provides five licenses for this purpose but no one owns them.
Council agreed to allow Le Taxi to use its van for the short term helps people who otherwise can’t get into an average taxi and it gives the company time to find a newer van with the same accommodation features.
In arriving at the new drop rate of $3.90, council rejected a recommendation from its bylaw enforcement officer to increase it to $4.00 which is 10 cents more than what Le Taxi had requested.
Le Taxi owns all 10 available taxi licenses in the municipality.
Staff told council there was a time when there were three cab companies in West Nipissing and they shared those 10 licenses but over time all 10 available licenses ended up at Le Taxi.
The number of licenses is based on the population count of West Nipissing.
That ratio is one license for every 1,365 people.
Le Taxi can have more than 10 drivers and more than 10 vehicles but the most licensed cabs it can have on the road at any one time is 10.
The municipality is mandated to regulate the industry under the Municipal Act.
At one point in the debate, councillor Jeremy Seguin suggested the entire taxi bylaw should be revisited to include rideshare.
However, Councillor Lise Senecal who chairs General Government which the taxi industry falls under said that’s a debate for another occasion since it wasn’t the issue being discussed at this time.