By Pepper Parr
December 7th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
There is taxi service- city hall is issuing temporary licenses to drivers who can be on the road by the end of the day.
Blue Line of Hamilton will be offering the service.
The number to call is on the cab – 525-0000 Add the 905
Calls for service will go to the Blue Line dispatch which is described as very robust.
Taxi rates are determined by the municipality. Blue Line rates are lower than what Burlington taxi was asking for – so there will be cars and drivers on the road and it will cost you less.
Blue Line has taken up 40 of the 51 driver/car slots that were available.
If you want a cab – call Blue Line.
They have an App – and they offer a number of services.
Blue Line is working with the Boards of Education and the hospital.
More detail is expected from the city soon.
Wondering how Scott Wallace is feeling about all this.
Mr. Leigh you need to be a little more respectful of those who have served us well and been a victim of our city’s failure to protect an essential service that would never have been interrupted if his efforts to address this had been heeded. End of story.
Being lectured upon respect by those whose reputation is one of disrespect and rudeness is quite something!
If you read my comments more carefully and not as usual jump to conclusions, I did not disrespect Mr Wallace in any way. I questioned his blaming the City for his business’ failure.
Again, the bylaw may have been a contributing factor but it certainly was not the prime cause. As a business man he is responsible for the success or failure of his business. Nobody else is responsible. His business did not or could not adapt enough to compete with Uber etc. That is the fact.
Did Burlington Taxi seek City approval to reduce its fares to be more competitive?
I care, what Scott Wallace thinks. Mr. Wallace and Burlington Taxi were very good to the city of Burlington. Their company was always involved in community events and gave back to the city in many ways. With all that was happening Mr. Wallace helped put up the display of lights at Spencer Smith Park. Supposedly, he was the only person able to erect the helicopter and have it work properly.
Listening to the report given today notifying council that Blue Line was granted a temporary license to provide taxi service in Burlington we were told the following. The city of Burlington mandates the rates for taxi’s. This accounts for the fact that Blue Line taxi fare is lower than that of Burlington Taxi. It has nothing to do with operating successfully. It has more to do with the outdated by-laws of the City of Burlington.
It was also reported that the city was looking into the fares, which means should the City of Burlington mandate that the fares be higher they will be.
Neither you, Penny Hersh nor Wallace nor anyone else can blame the failure of his business on the City’s by-law or the City’s Council’s past or present. The by-law may have been a contributing factor but for sure not the sole or even the major cause. The taxi service model is destined to fail because Uber et al are allowed to operate their unregulated model by Federal and Provincial governments.
Times change. Business models must change, adapt to the changing times or fail.
I, too, wonder what Scott Wallace is thinking. There is no question that the city/council dropped the ball with regard to failing to act on a Council Directive dated April 27, 2018 to look into changing the taxi by-laws in Burlington.
What exacerbated the problem, in my mind, is that when repeated requests were made to the city and council by the owner of Burlington Taxi to look into changing these by-laws since 2018, nothing was done.
When the public was made aware that Burlington Taxi would cease operations on November 26th, 2021 the city/council had to accept responsibility for their failure to help a local business out. The suggestion made by Mr. Wallace, who had been working with a Hamilton Taxi Company, to ensure that service would not end went unheeded. From November 8-26th the city once again failed to act.
Interesting that in the face of public pressure city staff was able to come up with a temporary solution to the problem, while failing to mention that this could all have been avoided.
What does “whining” Scott Wallace think about this development? Who cares?
Blue Line thinks it can operate successfully (at lower ride costs), presumably under the existing by-law.
That is capitalism at work, is it not?
Scott Wallace’s company did not go out of business because of the City’s by-law. It may have contributed, but it seems the old taxi company model is outdated and inefficient.
Can anyone tell me why taxi companies not themselves convert to the obviously less burdensome “Uber” model of doing business?