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Ride-hailing company approved for capital region, but no plans to start just yet

The Passenger Transportation Board has approved another ride-hailing company to operate in the capital region.
Ripe Rides logo

The Passenger Transportation Board has approved another ride-hailing company to operate in the capital region.

Vancouver-based Ripe Rides was also given the go-ahead to do business in communities across Vancouver Island and most other regions in the province.

But a spokesman for Ripe Rides said the company won’t be operating on the Island until concerns about safety amid the pandemic are addressed. Victoria now has three approved ride-hailing companies, but none are operating, as the COVID-19 crisis keeps a damper on demand for the service.

In late April, the Passenger Transportation Board announced that Lucky To Go had been approved to operate in Greater Victoria and all other regions of the province. In February, the board approved Vancouver-based Kabu’s application to operate in the capital region.

The board on Wednesday also approved the application of Bonny’s Taxi to operate in the Lower Mainland and Whistler regions.

The board has refused the applications of Jatinder Singh Gill, Comox Taxi Ltd., Swiftsure Taxi Co. Ltd. and Duncan Taxi Ltd. (doing business as VI Ride Hailing) to operate in Region 3 Vancouver Island, excluding the capital region. Dad’s Dial a Driver Services Inc. was also refused licenses to operate in all regions of the province.

The Passenger Transportation Board, an independent licensing tribunal, is mandated to make decisions on applications relating to passenger-directed vehicles in British Columbia, including ride-hailing authorizations.

It said the decisions were made after a careful review of the extensive materials received during the application process, which included supporting information provided by the applicants and submissions from interested members of the public and stakeholders.

The board has received a total of 39 ride-hailing applications to date and has issued decisions on 32 of them.

dkloster@timescolonist.com