With the legislative session set to wrap for the winter break, ride hailing remains permanently stalled on the on-ramp.
You’d think from the exceedingly cautious approach by the government to date that ride hailing involved issues of truly epic public security.
Instead, it’s a politically awkward issue that’s somehow managed to be introduced in almost every other North American city.
The idea that Uber or Lyft present such challenges that it would take years to figure out and must be wrapped in many layers of bureaucracy invites more than a little skepticism.
Last time we checked, ride hailing was operating on city streets, not the surface of Mars.
Granted there are trade-offs. Seeing fewer people tempted to get behind the wheel while drunk or fewer young women with no way to get home late at night might be among the safety issues worth addressing.
As for the spectre of increased congestion, it is rich for the government that scrapped tolls on the Port Mann for purely political reasons to now lecture in this lane.
What’s gumming up the engine is politics and the continued desire to placate a politically powerful taxi industry.
That includes economic protection of an industry that appears to care relatively little about the public it serves.
So while the NDP has moved with great alacrity on much more complicated issues for which political will exists, ride hailing is not on the list.
Unfortunately for folks on the North Shore, expect that issue to continue to sit in traffic for a while.
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