Catching a taxi, Uber, Lyft could take longer with return of cruise ships

Catching a taxi, Uber or Lyft could take longer with return of cruise ships to Vancouver

Uber and Lyft decals on a ridehailing car (left), and a cruise ship arriving at Canada Place cruise ship terminal in Vancouver (right). (Shutterstock)

Before the pandemic, long waits and denied rides were a common problem in Metro Vancouver’s point-to-point ground transportation industry, which was, of course, long dominated by the taxi industry.

Hailing a taxi in Vancouver was a particularly challenging feat on days when cruise ships were docked at the Canada Place cruise ship terminal in downtown, while the vessels were unloading and loading thousands of passengers throughout the day.

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This year’s cruise season — officially starting on April 10, 2022, when Holland America’s MS Koningsdam makes its arrival as Vancouver’s first cruise ship in 2.5 years — will be the first year cruise ship passengers will have the option of using ride-hailing services, which launched in late January 2020 — just weeks before the initial pandemic lockdown.

Although the cruise ships will not necessarily always be filled to the same capacity as in previous years, a record number of cruise ships are scheduled for the 2022 season — over 300 visits or 8% more than 2019.

Expect “surge pricing” and “prime time” more often

While the cruise season officially begins this weekend, it will not begin to pick up until late April, when Canada Place will start seeing at least one cruise ship almost daily until the middle of October. There will be as many as five cruise ships on one day in June.

This means thousands of passengers will be circulating at Canada Place most days, disembarking in the morning and boarding by through the late afternoon. The return of cruise passengers will provide a major boost for the local tourism sector, hospitality businesses, restaurants, shops, and services in and around downtown, as well as taxis and ride-hailing.

Cruise ships at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver. (Shutterstock)

But with more people competing for the supply of ride-hailing vehicles on the road, expect potentially longer waits and higher costs more frequently.

Given the relative infancy of Uber and Lyft’s operations in Metro Vancouver, compared to other cities around the world that have had ride-hailing for many years before the pandemic, Vancouverites have yet to experience consistent periods of higher fees due to a surge in demand.

The supply-demand algorithm of Uber and Lyft’s apps increases prices for rides when there is a heightened volume of ride requests, which is often triggered by sports games, major events, and concerts, or simply seasonal demand. In addition to the return of cruise ships, this is expected to be a near-normal summer for major events, festivals, and concerns in the city. All of this will be a first for the ride-hailing market and recalibrated taxi market in Metro Vancouver.

Uber calls this “surge pricing,” while Lyft names it “prime time.”

On the apps for both services, drivers are notified when there is heightened demand, and a map shows where exactly “surge pricing” and “prime time” are in effect. For drivers, it is an incentive for them to serve the area to bring the supply to meet demand, while the higher prices intentionally deter some of the demand, encouraging some riders to wait for when more drivers become available. Eventually, the ride-hailing marketplace rebalances.

Both companies have indicated they have been working to steadily build up their driver supply to better meet existing and the expected increase in demand, with the demand for rides beginning to outpace the number of available drivers, now that health restrictions have been largely lifted.

Comparatively, taxi fares take into account a combination of the initial minimum fare upon embarking, the distance traveled, and the time of day. The time spent stuck in traffic congestion can also increase greatly, often unexpectedly during a ride. For rides from Vancouver International Airport to Vancouver and Richmond, fares are set, based on a 12-zone system across both cities, reaching $36 to travel to the zone where Canada Place is located.

As of the end of 2021, according to the Passenger Transportation Board (PTB), there are 2,635 taxi vehicle licenses in Metro Vancouver, across dozens of taxi companies. Of this figure, there are 1,060 taxi vehicle licenses held by taxi companies based within the City of Vancouver, which is the supply of taxi vehicles that can pick up passengers within the city due to municipal boundary rules.

This is up from 2017’s figures, when there were about 1,500 taxi vehicle licenses in Metro Vancouver, including 600 within the City of Vancouver.

Lyft smartphone app (Shutterstock)

The exact number of ride-hailing vehicle licenses currently in effect within Metro Vancouver was not available at the time of publication.

But data from the PTB suggests an overall shift from taxi capacity to ride-hailing capacity, based on demand trends, with previous taxi drivers shifting to Uber and Lyft. As of May 2021, within the Lower Mainland, ride-hailing trips were already outnumbering taxis by almost 2-1. Moreover, combined ride-hailing and taxi trips within the Lower Mainland recovered to about 89% of the total volume of trips previously completely dominated by taxis before the pandemic.

There is reason to believe that the gap between taxis and ride-hailing has further widened since the PTB report’s findings a year ago. With that said, there are immense labour shortages across the BC economy, and the transportation industry, including the taxi and ride-hailing sectors, is one of the hardest-hit areas.

Both Uber and Lyft recently stated in their earnings that they saw strong regrowth in the global number of drivers and trips made in recent quarters, reaching pandemic-time highs. However, recent media reports suggest the companies are still struggling, especially in key major urban markets; last month, Uber announced it will add taxis to its app in New York City to help address its driver shortage, and earlier this week it was reported the company is planning to also add taxis to its app in San Francisco.

Ride-hailing policies at the Canada Place cruise ship terminal

Given the constraints of accessing the cruise ship terminal on Canada Place Way, policies are in place to prevent a congested free-for-all of ride-hailing vehicles picking up and dropping off passengers.

As a condition of their Transportation Network Service (TNS) licenses with the provincial government’s Passenger Transportation Board (PTB), Uber and Lyft drivers are not permitted to pick up passengers in certain areas.

In an email to Daily Hive Urbanized, the City of Vancouver says this is regulated by requiring both ride-hailing companies to geo-fence off three areas from their ride-hailing apps, including Canada Place Way between Howe Street and Burrard Street, Howe Street between Canada Place Way, and Cordova Street, and Burrard Street between Canada Place Way and Cordova Street.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority also has regulations that do not allow ride-hailing vehicles to drive inside the cruise ship terminal from Canada Place Way to pick up and drop off passengers.

Waterfront Road beneath Canada Place Way. (Google Maps)

For ride-hailing pick-up in the immediate vicinity of the cruise ship terminal, the municipal government will be trialing the creation of a pick-up area along the south side of 1000 Canada Place Way, which is west of Burrard Street — outside Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel.

As for dropping off passengers, ride-hailing vehicles must arrive at the cruise ship terminal by using Waterfront Road, which is directly below Canada Place Way. Waterfront Road’s tunnel is accessible from West Cordova next to Waterfront Station or from the foot of Main Street next to Crab Park.

The City expects ride-hailing passengers who request a ride in the geofenced area in and around Canada Place will be directed with in-app messaging coupled with wayfinding signs on the street.

The port adds that it will have staff present at the cruise ship terminal to direct passengers with information about ground transportation options, just like in previous years. The taxi pick-up and drop-off arrangement will remain the same, with taxis lined up on Canada Place Way right outside the cruise ship terminal entrance for passengers looking for the taxi option.

canada place way canada place cruise ship terminal vancouver convention centre

Canada Place Way in front of the Canada Place cruise ship terminal entrance. (Google Maps)

“As this is the first cruise ship season with TNS available, we will be monitoring the operations of the designated pick-up area as well as the overall area and will make operational adjustments, if necessary,” reads the City’s statement.

A spokesperson for Uber told Daily Hive Urbanized they have been preparing for the return of cruise ships to the city.

“We are working closely with the Port of Vancouver, Canada Place, and the City of Vancouver to solidify plans for cruise dates recognizing there will be high demand and vehicle access issues to the terminal. Our priorities are safety and customer experience for passengers and visitors to the beautiful City of Vancouver. Drivers will be sent information about the plans at the Port during the cruise season, as well as in-app instructions,” said the spokesperson.

“As the city opens up, we have seen a steady building up of both driver supply and rider demand.”

Daily Hive Urbanized reached out to the BC Taxi Association and Vancouver Taxi Association for comment on this story but did not receive a response in time for publication.

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