Iqaluit taxi fare hike did need consultation

I would much prefer that Iqaluit Councillors take their time and do “opt for consultations with the community” when considering a taxi fare increase this time around.

They appear to have sped the last increase through (from its’ initial 20 per cent proposal before the Taxi Advisory Committee, chaired by Allen Hayward, to the third reading and subsequent passage) in some five working days while the Chicago city council negotiated for a full year with the industry before according their cab fleet an 11 per cent increase in 2006-07.

I don’t understand why the editorial’s author thinks that Iqaluit City Council regulating the local taxi industry is inappropriate or any different than the thousands of other jurisdictions and municipalities that scrutinize their taxi fleets and set meter rates.

It’s up to the local cab owners and drivers to organize a union, association or brotherhood with elected or chosen representatives if they want more timely, cohesive negotiations with a city council whose attention is strained on multiple fronts.

How can one expect a good faith negotiation for an increase when a good number of cabs here are reportedly offering their passengers rides discounted as much as 20 per cent or more?

On the contrary, many other municipalities offer their citizens one or more alternative transit options, like buses, trains, trams or trolleys (streetcars), subways (above and below ground), funiculars, community bicycle and car rental programs and the wildly popular ride share programs and smart phone apps like uberX, Lyft and Sidecar now available (and rendering taxis obsolete) in some 300 major cities worldwide.

It’s important to differentiate between what a hired driver takes home per day and what each registered taxi can earn for a livery licence holder and there has been no mention of the effective “gas holiday” taxis enjoyed for three of the years since the 2006-07 increase when the Government of Nunavut lowered a litre of gas at the pumps from $1.299 to $1.169, given that— guess what — gasoline price fluctuations account for the lion’s share of the jump in the CPI inflation rates.

Philip Marsh
Iqaluit

Email your letters to editor@nunatsiaq.com.

Nunatsiaq News welcomes letters to the editor. But we are under no obligation to publish any given letter at any given time.

In our print edition, we usually print letters on a first-come, first-served, space-available basis. In our online edition, we usually print letters as soon as we are able to prepare them for publication.

All letters are edited for length, grammar, punctuation, spelling, taste and libel. You may withhold your name by request, but we must know who you are before we publish your letter.