With less than a week on the job, Quebec Transport Minister Laurent Lessard is already being pressured to reveal details of a pilot project that would let ride-sharing service Uber operate legally within the province.
Lessard said Tuesday that there was still no agreement with Uber over the final form of the project, which would place the company within its own special category, according to the Montreal Gazette. But the project is already stirring up anger from taxi drivers, who warn that if the project doesn’t respect established law they’ll take the matter to court and report Uber drivers to the police.
“Uber has presented a proposal, and the process is following its courts,” Lessard told reporters this week. He said that he was scheduled to meet separately with Uber Quebec and representatives of the taxi industry next week, the Gazette reported.
As it stands, ride-sharing companies will soon be required to adhere to Quebec’s existing taxi permit regulations, according to the Gazette. But Bill 100, which arranged for the current system, was amended to give the government and Uber until Sept. 8 to come up with a pilot project. Should no agreement be reached by then, the new law will come into effect and Uber drivers operating without permits could be sanctioned, according to the Gazette.
Uber says its drivers work too few hours to afford taxi permits. However, the company said it would be open to paying an annual administration fee of $100,000 and a 35-cent per-ride fee. That would generate about $3 million each year for the province, the Gazette reported. Uber has also proposed a 7-cent-per-ride tax that could benefit Quebec’s auto insurance board.
“We continue negotiating the parameters of a pilot project with the government so that Quebecers can benefit from ride-sharing,” Uber Quebec spokesperson Jean-Christophe de Le Rue said in a statement Tuesday.
