On Thursday, January 23, 2020, the Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) approved the Uber and Lyft applications to operate in the Lower Mainland and Whistler. While this approval covers operations across the Lower Mainland and in Whistler it will not immediately cover this entire area.

Lyft’s initial service area includes the Vancouver International Airport, the Pacific National Exhibition and the City of Vancouver core. Uber’s initial offering includes a core area surrounding Vancouver – including North Delta and Ladner, but excluding Tsawwassen, Tsawwassen First Nation, and the BC Ferries Tsawwassen terminal. Uber riders are currently able to be dropped off in these locations, however the app will not allow for pick-ups.

The City of Delta has an existing business licensing process in place for ride-hailing companies, like Lyft and Uber, with a base annual business license fee of $110 plus $25 per car; with a cap per company of $1,500, which is consistent with the business license fees paid by taxis that operate in Delta. In December 2019 Delta’s Mayor, George Harvie, explained in a press release on the topic that the City has “established a simple and reasonable business licensing system for ride-hailing to ensure that we are treating ride-hailing companies and taxis fairly while allowing our residents to access improved transportation services. We look forward to ride-hailing companies operating in Delta as soon as the Province allows them to.”

On behalf of the membership of the Delta Chamber of Commerce, Board Chair Yvonne Anderson congratulated & thanked Delta Mayor George Harvie for his leadership on brokering an agreement with the regional mayors to replace the George Massey Tunnel.

She went on to say that "while the process and the ultimate solution has been an issue and the subject of many debates, the Delta Chamber and our members have been more concerned about the lack of certainty and timeline for this project to be completed. With your actions and leadership to get the regional Mayor’s decision back to the province, we have the certainty that it is now the provincial government’s responsibility to take action and deliver a solution to replace this critical piece of infrastructure for Delta and all British Columbians." 

Click here to read the full letter. 

Category: Advocacy, Chair of the Board, Local & Regional Government, Member News, Transportation