Kincardine Council has reached a compromise on controversial changes to the municipal taxi by-law.
Council has decided to not require cab owners to take all vehicles ten years or older out of service.
Karen Page of Kincardine Taxi says losing the vehicles would have meant the community would have suddenly gone from having eleven cabs to just four.
Councillor Kenneth Craig and Mayor Larry Kraemer note that with vehicles undergoing yearly safety checks, any problems will still be detected, and that vehicle wear and tear usually is caused by the kilometres driven, not the age.
However, council has held firm with plans to require cab companies to carry two million dollars in liability insurance, up from one million.
Page says that’s a decision they’ll “just have to live with.”
Kraemer says a million dollars is not enough when they’re transporting the public, and he does not think it is a good business practice anyway.
He says if fares have to go up by fifty cents a ride to pay for extra insurance, then customers will have to absorb that.
Page is concerned about the amount of time it takes to process permit applications for new taxi drivers in Kincardine.
She says the process can take more than two weeks once municipal forms are processed, criminal record checks are completed, and then final approval is given by the Police Services Board.
Councillor Marsha Leggett, a member of the Police Services Board defends the board’s involvement.
She says they have called meetings to deal with licensing, and says the cab companies need to start “doing their own leg work,” to get their business looked after.
She suggests they meet with the OPP instead to address the concerns.