Cabbies ready for cruise season? Hardly, says local couple

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – As Vancouver cab drivers say they’re ready for cruise season–at least one couple that lives here say that’s simply not the case.

Peter McCreath and his wife live in Langley, and they recently arrived back in Vancouver from a cruise and they say cabs are far from prepared to handle the rush of people getting off the ships and looking for a ride.

“We got off the ship just after nine o’clock. We just picked up the bags and went straight to the taxi lineup. We finally got a taxi just after 12:30 p.m. after standing in the line there and there was probably still, I’m guessing at least 200, maybe more people still waiting in the line for taxis,” he says.

He say there were long chunks of time while he and his wife waiting in line where there were no cabs to be seen.

“If the taxi people think it’s acceptable for people to be waiting for three or four, or in some cases five-plus hours for a taxi, then they’re greatly mistaken.”

He says some of the people they traveled saw the cab line and decided it was better to rent a limo for their commute from the docks. He thinks it might’ve even been better to use the free airport shuttle to YVR and taken a taxi from there, where the lines were likely to be much shorter–something he says ridiculous.

“It was an absolute gong show there,” says McCreath. “Without having things like Lyft or Uber or anything like that available here, the Vancouver taxi service cannot provide suitable service to the Port of Vancouver, in my opinion.”

He says the whole ordeal was incredibly frustrating considering they though the wait for a cab might be an hour at most. One hour turned into an hour and a half, then two, and so on.

He says it reflects poorly on the city, something his friends who opted for the limo voiced when they saw the lineup. Some people faint, or fake illnesses and disabilities simply to get a taxi first according to McCreath–it would seem desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Tell the taxi drivers to go wait in line for three or four hours some time and see how much they like it,” he says, adding something has to change.

“Number one they need more vehicles coming through, whether it’s more taxis or allowing Uber or Lyft of whatever, dial a ride, something, into town. I don’t think the cruise terminal is that well set up, honestly, to handle three ships coming in at the same time. And if it ever comes to the point where we get a couple of the big ones in that have five and six thousand passengers each, then its going to be an absolute gong show!”

He says if you’re not first to disembark the boat, you’ll be won’t be getting a cab anytime soon. He also says at most, cabbies in Vancouver might be able to handle one ship on a day of the week that is typically slow–not a Friday or Saturday.

Bottom line, he says there simply needs to be more vehicles–or more options–available.

The Vancouver Taxi Association disputes McCreath’s claims, saying ‘there is no way’ that they waited three hours for a cab.

She says there were a few bumps in the road when they first implemented the new initiatives to make the cruise season go smoothly, but now those kinks have been ironed out and people are going from ship to cab almost seamlessly.

Surrey Board of Trade calls for Uber

The Surrey Board of Trade’s Anita Huberman agrees with McCreath, renewing a call for the NDP to follow through on a campaign promise of introducing Uber in BC.

The NDP had originally promised the ride-hailing service would be available in the province by the end of last year.

“The Surrey Board of Trade understood the need for the newly formed government to review ride sharing legislation and ensure a level playing competitive field,” says Huberman. “However, some time has passed since the BC Government finished its consultation.”

She says the province–especially the Lower Mainland–needs the ride-hailing service.