What started as a motion from Timmins Police Board Member John Curley has turned into a back-and-forth between Timmins’ only two cab companies.

Curley says between all the complaints on wait times—particularly in the east end—he feels there is a need for more on the road.

Northern Taxi owner Dauda Raji is looking for additional taxi licenses and is willing to invest the money to grow and expand.  However, Vet’s Taxi owner Richard Lafleur had written in with the exact opposite stance, claiming there are too many on the road at this time.

(CLICK HERE for our previous story from April, including Rogers Radio’s exclusive chat with Lafleur.)

On Thursday, Lafleur was able to articulate that stance to the TPS Board directly in-person.

And he wasn’t alone either.

Numerous cab drivers under the Vet’s ‘umbrella’ also sat and were able to give their views. Some state that any new licenses would kill their business, and others even made mention that driving cab took a driver off of social assistance.

Now you’re probably telling yourself, ‘Of course Vet’s thinks there’s too many, they have 49 of the 60 licenses in town. Why would they want more for their competition?’

What makes this situation different, as Lafleur explained, is that each and every one of his licensees are not only their own private brokers that utilize the Vet’s dispatch system…but they’re also not under contract and could leave at any point.

Lafleur says the 49 licenses utilized by Vet’s are there because they choose Vet’s, a company that’s been around for 70 years.

Raji on the other hand, spoke of job creation and what the new licenses would do. He adds he’s the only person within Northern Taxi that is not from Timmins, stamping his claim to giving jobs to local people instead of outsourcing from elsewhere.

Raji—a former Store Manager at the Timmins Walmart store—says when he was in the local retail industry, he had great relationships with others.

In the last 16 months he’s been in the taxi industry, he explains he’s never experienced such a “hostile” environment. Now, Raji states he’s “at the mercy” of the board, adding they should “let common sense prevail” in their decision-making.

Course, if the police board were to issue new licenses, it would be done via a lottery system.

The man who issues licenses from the Timmins Police is Constable Tom Buczkowski. He feels based on the numbers, we’re on par with other communities and doesn’t feel the need for more licenses.  He says we’re pretty efficient, and was complimentary of the work done by Lafleur and Raji on improving service in town.

We’ll use the ‘one taxi for every 1,000 people’ note in the by-law and take a look around Northern Ontario:

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SUDBURY

160,000 people with 13 companies.  Sudbury has 136 licenses available, all in use.  That would mean Sudbury is under that mark.

SAULT STE MARIE

75,000 people with three companies.  SSM has 60 licenses, but there are no limitations to the amount of available licenses.  Again, under the number.

NORTH BAY

54,000 people with three companies.  North Bay has 85 licenses available, but 26 of them aren’t in use.  That means 59 are being used, that’s still slightly over the ratio.

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In Timmins, there are 41,000 people, 60 licenses for two companies.  The ratio would state Timmins is well served.

But there are still complaints, according to Curley.

On that, Rogers Radio asked Buczkowski if it’s just a case of customers being impatient.  He says you’ll get that everywhere.

“We spoke of the highs and lows at Christmas and in New Year’s, you’re always going to have that excessive call load,” Buczkowski added, “But then, you get your peaks and your valleys, and it drops off during the winter months.”

This will come back at a later date for discussion, and possibly a vote too.

Filed under: Local News