Private Transportation Companies in Ottawa/Gatineau

[rocketphish]

Local app poised to enter ride market dominated by Uber and taxis

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 26, 2017 | Last Updated: February 26, 2017 5:29 PM EST

A tech-savvy city worker could be Uber’s next competitor in Ottawa’s licensed ride-ordering market.

Neville Hewage created the oRide app as the city started looking into changing the licensing system that regulates the taxi industry. After a few years working on the technology, he submitted his application in December to the city for a private transportation company licence.

If approved, it would be only the second PTC licence issued by the City of Ottawa.

So how is a local ride-ordering outfit going to take on an international behemoth like Uber?

“We’re not going to compete with Uber,” Hewage said in an interview. “oRide is trying to build its own brand.”

Hewage is sweetening the pot for people considering to drive for Uber. The oRide app will take 15 per cent of the fare, compared with the 25 per cent commission Uber takes from its drivers.

On the other hand, unlike Uber, customers who order a driver through the oRide app will pay a minimum fare of $8. Hewage said the oRide rates for long distances will be cheaper than Uber’s.

oRide won’t have surge pricing, which is a cornerstone of Uber’s supply-and-demand model.

Hewage, 52, is a process supervisor with the city’s drinking water services division. The programmer said he hopes to retire from the city in eight years with oRide providing a little financial cushion.

The city is reviewing oRide to see if it should be issued a PTC licence.

Hewage said he’s still working on the ride-sharing insurance requirements to meet the city’s bylaw. He has an insurance provider lined up and is waiting to sign a contract with the company.

The city launched its new regulatory system last Sept. 30, creating a licensing category for taxis and a category for PTCs. The rules are different for each category.

Uber has had a PTC licence since early October.

According to the city’s bylaw department, Uber reported providing 1.4 million rides in the first three months of its licensed operations in Ottawa. The city says it conducts audits on the ride data and conducts field investigations.

While taxi companies must keep records of service requests, bylaw chief Roger Chapman said the city hasn’t asked brokers for their statistics for the same three-month period.

“However, KPMG reported in the fall of 2015, as part of the taxi and limousine regulation and service review it undertook, that taxis provide about 12 million trips per year, which equates to three million trips in a three-month period,” Chapman noted.

If that’s the case, then Uber has potentially taken a massive bite out of the ride-ordering market in the capital.

Uber has about 3,000 people registered as drivers in Ottawa.

The competition for drivers and customers could become even more fierce when oRide receives its PTC licence.

Hewage said he has 362 people signed up to drive on the oRide platform. He has also partnered with the small local company City Cab to allow people to book those taxis if they prefer a traditional licensed cab over a private driver.

“Taxi drivers are technically far behind current market trends,” Hewage said. “I hope other taxi companies will realize the market potential and join with the oRide platform.”

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...uber-and-taxis

[1overcosc]

Excellent. The liberalization of the taxi laws is leading to more and more competition which will ultimately be better for everyone.

[FFX-ME]

I just hope that this company, unlike Uber, pays their employees living wages. It would be a disaster to replace good jobs with lower-than-minimum wage paying jobs that funnel cash across the border.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by FFX-ME

I just hope that this company, unlike Uber, pays their employees living wages. It would be a disaster to replace good jobs with lower-than-minimum wage paying jobs that funnel cash across the border.

What would you propose is a living wage for such work? How can this App compete with Uber if they pay substantially more?

[FFX-ME]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

What would you propose is a living wage for such work? How can this App compete with Uber if they pay substantially more?

Uber should simply be banned. The drivers lose money if you factor in the cost of expenses. These services should be forced to abide by the same rules and regulations as the taxi industry.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by FFX-ME

Uber should simply be banned. The drivers lose money if you factor in the cost of expenses. These services should be forced to abide by the same rules and regulations as the taxi industry.

Why? Uber (and any other similar service) will wither and die all on it's own if driving for them is unprofitable. We don't need to legislate that... market forces will take care of it for us.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by FFX-ME

Uber should simply be banned. The drivers lose money if you factor in the cost of expenses. These services should be forced to abide by the same rules and regulations as the taxi industry.

Or the taxi industry should be deregulated?

[lrt's friend]

Uber is part of the new economy. They treat workers like garbage. They pay very little when considering expenses of operating a vehicle. The attraction is to easily pick up a few bucks when you already have a vehicle. If you can't already afford a vehicle, forget it.

Not so much different from Walmart that just today announced that they are going squeeze suppliers even more. Walmart is probably the number one reason why manufacturing has moved overseas. Unlike any time before in history, Walmart's market share allows them to demand that suppliers lower prices. No company before has had that power.

The idea of paying a living wage and full time work is slowly going out the window, to all our detriment.

The future includes more and more unemployable people or people who are unable to find stable employment.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Why? Uber (and any other similar service) will wither and die all on it's own if driving for them is unprofitable. We don't need to legislate that... market forces will take care of it for us.

That is why they are pushing for driverless vehicles. Their current model of paying less and less to drivers is not sustainable.

[Radster]

While UBER is the most popular, there are many other similar apps/companies in existence, outside of Ottawa, mainly in the USA. Here is an interesting article, and if you read it, you will find out that in those markets where there are many different apps to choose from, the drivers work for more than one of them at the same time. Also, UBER charges the highest commission of them all. So its only a matter of time before Ottawa also has other choices, which take less commission from the drivers - and this Ottawa based one, is a first step in that direction.

https://thinkprogress.org/how-uber-d...5be#.vj2o9d9fz

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Radster

While UBER is the most popular, there are many other similar apps/companies in existence, outside of Ottawa, mainly in the USA. Here is an interesting article, and if you read it, you will find out that in those markets where there are many different apps to choose from, the drivers work for more than one of them at the same time. Also, UBER charges the highest commission of them all. So its only a matter of time before Ottawa also has other choices, which take less commission from the drivers - and this Ottawa based one, is a first step in that direction.

https://thinkprogress.org/how-uber-d...5be#.vj2o9d9fz

While it seems like other apps should be able to undercut Uber hte history shows that this can be difficult. Look at something like Stubhub for tickets or Ebay etc. Once established it can be hard to dislodge a dominant incumbent.