Edmonton ride-for-hire market now crowded with newcomers

The city's ride-for-hire market is suddenlya lot more crowded.

A new bylaw that regulates the industry came into effect on Tuesday, and within hours the city had issued licences to five new private transportation providers, or PTPs.

The principle difference between commercial taxi cabs and the new companies is that PTP drivers are only allowed to accept trips pre-arranged through a mobile app or a dispatcher. Under the bylaw, only taxis are allowed to pick up street hails or use taxi stands for the stipulated meter rate.

The new faces in the market include Anytime Taxi, Metro Airport, Cowboy Taxi, Dollar Cab and a private individual. TappCar is also approved as a commercial PTP dispatcher.

Anytime Taxi manager Osman Mohamed was one of those to get a new licence.

His company started in Edmonton but couldn't afford to expand because of the costs of licences and insurance. So he moved his operations outside city limits

Uber, the company that changed the market over the last year, halted operations in Edmonton on Tuesday, just as the city bylaw regulating the ride-for-hire industry came into effect. The company suspended service after the province failed to make insurance available to drivers by March 1.

That insurance won't be ready until July.

Mohamed said he's sad to see Uber go, and credits them for changing the established taxi industry.

"Without Uber, their effort to get the system and to get these things heard, we would never get to this point. There is a market out there, people need our service. We can do this together."

The minimum charge on PTP rides is $3.25. Beyond that, the fee can be negotiated between the driver and customer.

All PTP vehicles will have stickers displayed on the windshield.