Dear Neighbour:

I thought I’d send you a quick update on a major announcement made by our Ministry of Transportation yesterday: Regulations have been finalized and released that will allow ridesharing services to operate in our province as soon as September 16.

Under the regulations that are enabled by a new ridesharing law we passed in the Spring, our province’s Passenger Transportation Board will be accepting rideshare applications from companies that wish to operate in BC at the beginning of September.

Services can begin September 16 once companies are approved.

Insurance changes published in yesterday’s regulations will also benefit peer-to-peer car rental companies – think of them as “Air B&B”, but for cars.

Learning from communities that have lived with ridesharing for a number of years now, our provincial rules are based on ensuring congestion is not made worse, people with disabilities maintain access to rideshare and taxi, and ensuring minimum safety and conduct standards from companies that operate in BC.

You can read more about yesterday’s announcement here:

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019TRAN0121-001409

We are optimistic that British Columbians will have a range of services to choose from this Fall if they wish to use rideshare. Thank you for writing to me about this important issue.

Yours truly,

David Eby

p.s. great article about why our approach is important in Macleans:

We don’t think passenger safety should be an afterthought, which is why we took the time to bring ride-hailing to BC the right way. https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/what-we-can-learn-from-british-columbias-transportation-regulators/