Facebook ‘safe rides’ competition for taxis

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This article was published 06/01/2018 (2986 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While the taxi-versus-Uber debate continues to rev its engines in Winnipeg, “safe ride” Facebook groups quietly ride on.

A handful of new online associations — including Any Time Safe Rides and Isaiah’s Safe Rides for All — has been popping up in the last few months.

Anyone can ask to join the community groups and post a ride request, to which a Winnipegger on the group’s approved driver list will respond.

“It’s like your neighbour giving you a ride,” said Randy Williams, chairman of the Manitoba Taxicab Board.

If you were giving your neighbour a donation to do so, that is.

Instead of fixed rates, the approved drivers in safe ride groups accept payments they call “donations,” which are negotiated depending on the driver and group.

None of the groups (there are more than 10 active in the city, of varying membership size) is regulated by the taxicab board, which oversees industry regulations and standards.

They are legal as long as they don’t charge flat fees, Williams said.

The groups are gaining prominence as “people are becoming more and more afraid to use cab services,” said Mercedes Daley, Isaiah’s Safe Rides for All administrator.

Daley said she and her husband started the group in December to provide people with safe rides.

She said the group — which has a membership of more than 900 — allows Winnipeggers to check out a driver’s profile and judge whether they feel comfortable accepting a ride from that person.

The drivers in Isaiah’s Safe Rides for All are approved after a licence and registration check, Daley said.

She said she doesn’t do any background checks.

“If we have any problems with drivers, they get removed instantly,” she said.

The Winnipeg Police Service can facilitate criminal record checks for a fee.

It’s something they do for many groups, public information officer Const. Rob Carver said.

“We certainly would recommend that any group providing or initiating this type of service do security checks on volunteers and employees,” he said in a statement Friday.

Pete Contois said he created Any Time Safe Rides about two weeks ago, to help Winnipeggers who are afraid to take taxis or don’t have a car.

Ride requests posted in his Facebook group — which has almost 7,000 members — must include a general pickup area, destination, the number of passengers and whether or not the passenger needs a booster seat.

He said they drive around a lot of young families.

“The whole group knows where you’re going, what area you’re in, who’s got you and everything else,” he said Friday.

“When you’re with a taxi company, you’re on your own and nobody really knows anything.”

The Any Time Safe Rides administrator, who said he drives from time to time, said the benefit of such groups is they’re cheaper and faster than the alternatives.

“Gas money is all we’re really asking for,” he said.

Contois said he does background checks on his drivers, monitors user comments daily, and communicates with the drivers 24 hours a day.

There’s a community aspect to the services, said Amanda Wiebe, a Winnipegger who belongs to several safe ride groups.

She said she has been using the groups in Winnipeg since they started showing up on Facebook two years ago.

“People from your community are giving you rides… so there’s a certain added element of feeling safe,” she said Friday.

Contois said it takes five to 10 minutes for one of his group’s drivers to respond to a request, and about 20 minutes for a driver to get to a location.

“It’s almost real-time,” said Darryl Ludwig, a Winnipegger who got a ride from an Any Time Safe Rides driver on New Year’s Eve.

Ludwig said he found the group on Facebook by accident, and hasalready recommended it to other people.

“I would definitely use the service again,” he said.

“I like it. I think it’s as close to Uber as we’ve got so far.”

Ride-sharing services, such as industry giants Uber and Lyft, will become legal in Winnipeg on March 1.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca