Regina's city council decides to issue seasonal taxi licences by lottery

On Monday, Regina's city councilvoted unanimously to change the way they distribute seasonal taxi licences.

Seasonal licenceswill now be issued by a lottery system. This will mean the licences, that are distributed in the wintertime, will godirectly todrivers rather than tobrokers who resell them to the drivers.

The motion was brought forth byWard 3 city councillorShawn Fraser, whosaid the city's job is simplyto regulate the industry.

"I think this is the fairest way to do that," Fraser said.

Heargued the current distribution method wascreating profit for anotherorganization, which doesn't align with the role of regulation.

The motion wouldmake sure taxi drivers can attain a permit at a fair price, rather than getting one from abroker at an inflated rate.

"The brokerswe ...issue theseto,turn around and charge, by my math, anywhere between 26 times and 37 times more than the price that we charge," Fraser said.

When presenting the motion,Fraserreferencedthe Regina Taxi Study, a report done byTennessee Transportation & Logistics Foundation in2010on behalf of the City of Regina.

The report recommended seasonallicences be issued bylottery.

"I'm very much in favour of this," said Mayor Michael Fougere, as heurged councillors to support the motion.

Changes to the bylaw will appear at next month's council meeting. Another report on the Regina taxi industry is to bereleased in 2017.