Rural cab operator says Winnipeg taxis are illegally encroaching on his turf

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This article was published 08/12/2015 (3819 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rural taxi owner Glen Phillips is accusing Winnipeg’s two largest taxi companies of illegally encroaching on his territory, undercutting his rates and destroying his livelihood.

He said Unicity and Duffy’s have been poaching his customers for years, but the situation has recently got worse.

“It’s destroyed me — my name and everything,” said Phillips, who operates Lockport Taxi and its subsidiary, East St. Paul Taxi. “They’re just running me out of my area. They’re just ambushing me.”

Phillips said his customers believe he’s overcharging them because the city taxi companies charge less.

He said he is bound by the rate set by the provincial Motor Transport Board, which regulates rural cab companies whose cars cross municipal boundaries. The Taxicab Board supervises Winnipeg cab companies.

His starting meter rate is $2.70 and his per kilometre rate is $2.10. Winnipeg taxis have a higher starting rate ($3.50) but a lower per kilometre rate.

He said he knows of Winnipeg taxis that have picked up passengers at the Rivercrest Motor Hotel in West St. Paul and driven them to St. Andrews Airport, which is against provincial regulations because the trip begins and ends outside the city limits.

“They’re totally not allowed to do that,” Phillips said.

If a Winnipeg taxicab takes the fare, the meter will read $14.40, he said. If one of his three cars takes it, the provincially set charge is $20.

“I have people in East St. Paul calling me a crook (because of the higher rate his company must charge),” Phillips said.

Lockport Taxi has jurisdiction to operate in East and West St. Paul, St. Clements and St. Andrews.

Shelly Ferens, director and secretary of the Taxicab Board, said provincial rules allow Winnipeg cab companies to either pick up or drop off passengers outside the city limits. However, they are not allowed to transport people solely within a municipality outside of Winnipeg.

Further, she said, a Winnipeg taxi is obligated to charge customers the rural rate for the portion of the trip that occurs outside the city limits.

Ferens said she could not comment on an individual case, but she acknowledged receiving a complaint from Phillips. The Taxicab Board would need proof of wrongdoing before taking action against a Winnipeg taxi company, she said.

“It’s one thing for somebody to say it’s occurring. It’s another thing to prove it. If you’re going to take disciplinary action you have to have evidence,” she said.

A spokesman for Duffy’s Taxi could not be reached for comment.

Unicity Taxi supervisor Tanya Peters said her company routinely picks up fares in neighbouring municipalities for delivery in Winnipeg and vice versa.

She allowed that it’s likely that drivers delivering someone to East St. Paul or Birds Hill from Winnipeg would leave the meter running outside the city rather than calculate the rural rate.

“The driver is ultimately going to end up getting ripped off in those cases,” she added.

Peters said the company does not always ask customers where they are headed when they call the company’s dispatchers.

But she pointed out that it’s not economical for Winnipeg drivers to travel north of town for a short fare within a neighbouring municipality.

“We’re not going to drive to Lockport to drive somebody to Selkirk or something like that. It just doesn’t make sense,” Peters said.

The ombudsman’s office confirmed that it is looking into the matter but said it could not comment further.

The Motor Transport Board did not make anyone available for an interview. However, a government spokesman confirmed in an email that the board allows city taxis to transport passengers both from Winnipeg to an outside municipality and from a rural municipality to the city.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca