Uber launches in Victoria, Kelowna and Chilliwack

Ride-hailing company Uber will begin operations in Victoria, Kelowna and Chilliwack at noon Tuesday, a little less than a month after it was approved to operate outside Metro Vancouver.

Uber has been active in Metro Vancouver since January 2020, after a prolonged approval period and protests from local taxi companies.

The company had applied to set up operations in Victoria and Kelowna on Aug. 31, 2020, but its application to operate in those markets was denied by the provincial Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) in December 2021.

At the time, it said the expansion would be harmful to taxi companies, which were struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company then applied to have another ride-hailing company's licence transferred — in this case, a private service called ReRyde. That application was granted on May 10.

"Starting [Tuesday], Uber will expand ridesharing in B.C. to Victoria, Kelowna and Chilliwack, connecting riders with a safe, reliable, and affordable transportation option to get them where they need to go," read a statement from a spokesperson on Monday.

Kelowna taxi operator welcomes competition

The news of Uber's expansion to B.C.'s larger cities was well-received in Victoria, especially by tourism operators and the city's mayor.

However, taxi operators said that they had concerns with the service, especially given that drivers are considered independent contractors without access to health and safety protections like disability.

"There is going to be a negative impact, financially, as well as for the jobs of drivers," said Mohan Kang, the president of the B.C. Taxi Association.

Kang said he questioned whether the government was treating everyone in the transportation industry the same way, saying that a recent minimum wage increase would apply to taxi operators but not to Uber drivers.

"The taxi industry are doing and following those rules for a long time. Why the distinction? I fail to see, and I fail to understand," he said.

Roy Paulson, a spokesperson for the Okanagan Taxi Association, said that Uber's arrival had been imminent for some time in that region.

"Everybody's excited for it. We welcome the competition," he told Chris Walker, host of CBC's Daybreak South, on May 11. "What it's going to do, looking at the big picture, is the end result is better customer service all the way around."

Paulson said that traditional cabs still held advantages over Uber's app-based model — notably, that prices stayed fixed and there was no concept of "surge pricing" during periods of heavy demand.