Summerside updating taxi bylaw to reflect changes in industry

Summerside city council has given first reading to a new taxi bylaw that addresses regulations it says havenot been updated in decades.

Deputy CAO Gordon MacFarlane said council has consulted with local companies and the new bylaw has been developed to reflect changes in the industry, especially when it comes to amenities required for taxi stands.

The days when someone went into a cab stand and waited for a taxi are pretty much over, he said.

"What we've attempted to do is try to clean up the bylaw a little bit and take out some of the regulations that are a little bit outdated," he said.

"Our former bylaw, you know, spoke to requirements of hours of operations at taxi stands and how many bathrooms needed to be available and different sorts of things like that. We wanted to take out any regulation that we thought was kind of redundant or was just not the way taxi operators operate these days."

MacFarlane said the proposed bylaw will go for further discussion at the committee level and for public input. It could come before council for a final vote as early as November.

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