Uber wins court battle over downtown Vancouver pickup and dropoff fees
Uber Canada took the city to court over the bylaw, claiming it overstepped a municipal government's power to regulate so-called 'transportation network services.'
The bylaw prevented ride-share vehicles from picking up or dropping off passengers in the 'Metro Vancouver core' between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. unless they had a 'congestion and curbside management permit.'
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Under the permit, the city levies a per-stop fee in the downtown core during the designated times. Since December 2003, that fee has been $0.25 for zero-emission vehicles and $0.50 for all other vehicles.
The provincial government made the Passenger Transportation Board the 'centralized authority' to regulate ride-hailing in 2019, but the city later imposed the bylaw, which Uber challenged in B.C. Supreme Court.
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The court decision says the province made the changes to eliminate regulatory overlap, which the transportation minister at the time said had 'plagued the passenger-directed vehicle industry for years.'
The ruling says there is no 'rational pathway' for the city to claim it didn't intend to regulate the number of ride-sharing vehicles operating in Vancouver with the bylaw because its stated intention was to reduce traffic congestion.
'Given the specifics of this particular bylaw, it is unreasonable for the city to decide it was authorized to invoke its powers to regulate stopping on city streets to defeat the purpose and text of its governing legislation,' the ruling says. 'Therefore, the bylaw is invalid and the decision to adopt it was unreasonable.'
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