Vancouver has Canada's highest ride-hailing fees, and they could increase further

Uber and Lyft decals. (Shutterstock)

Ride-hailing fees mandated by the City of Vancouver could grow higher.

After floating the possibility of various fee hikes late this past summer and earlier in the fall, City staff have outlined their proposal to increase municipal fees for ride-hailing trips within the Metro Core — the area encompassing the downtown Vancouver peninsula and Central Broadway. Such an increase is being contemplated.

Currently, the fee paid by each customer for their ride-hailing trip starting or ending within the Metro Core is $0.30 for non-zero-emission vehicles and $0.15 for zero-emission vehicles. City staff is proposing increases to $0.25 and $0.50, respectively, starting on January 1, 2024.

These fees are technically called the Congestion and Curbside Management Permit (CCMP), which are currently applied between 7 am and 7 pm when there is more traffic. Under the changes, City staff are now looking to extend the duration from 7 am to 10 pm, which is shorter than the previously contemplated extension to midnight, according to Uber.

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“With activities returning close to their pre-pandemic levels, ride-hailing trip data was analyzed, and many trips were noted to occur in the evenings. To continue to manage the number of vehicle trips within the Metro Core and to encourage travel by walking, cycling, or transit, it is recommended that the CCMP be increased,” reads a City staff report.

“There are still good levels of transit service during those hours and these changes are responsive to stakeholder feedback, which raised concerns about potential increases in impaired driving and risks to personal safety if the CCMP was extended later into the night. The discounts for zero-emission vehicles and accessible vehicles would be retained.”

In addition to managing traffic, the City hopes to raise more revenue, with previous estimates suggesting that the municipal government could see $3 million in additional annual revenue by 2025 after two consecutive annual increases.

According to City staff, such fees are similar to what is in place in jurisdictions such as Seattle and Portland.

But within Canada, such fees would further entrench Vancouver as the jurisdiction with Canada’s highest ride-hailing fees — even when the provincial government’s fees are excluded.

For trips that start and end within the Metro Core, depending on the type of fuel the vehicle uses, the municipal ride-hailing fees would reach $1 in 2024 — up from the current total fees of $0.60 — and possibly followed by a further increase in 2025.

In contrast, the total fees for other major Canadian jurisdictions come to $0.43 in Toronto, $0.21 in Ottawa, $0.45 in Calgary, $0.30 in Edmonton, and $0.30 in Winnipeg.

By 2024, total provincial and municipal fees for trips in Vancouver could reach over five times higher than the fees applied on trips in Toronto or Calgary.

Vancouver’s existing and future ride-hailing fees compared to other major Canadian jurisdictions. (Uber)

“We are urging Vancouver City Council to reconsider the proposed 67% increase to their road use tax (CCMP) on rideshare trips, especially since they no longer have the legal authority to charge it,” Keerthana Rang, a spokesperson for Uber, told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“Vancouverites already face the highest fees in the country. When fees increase, people stay home, hurting local businesses, restaurants, and bars, or they take their own vehicles, resulting in more cars on the road and an increased risk of impaired driving. With tens of thousands fewer trips, there will be fewer earning opportunities for drivers.”

Uber also suggested such fees may not be within the jurisdiction of the City of Vancouver.

As it turns out, in May 2023, the provincial government amended the Vancouver Charter to provide further clarification following the controversy over the City’s previous proposal to enact its own road tolls within the Metro Core.

“The Council may not establish or impose a toll on the use of streets unless specifically provided by a provincial or federal enactment,” reads the approved addition to the Vancouver Charter.

One of the first measures by the ABC Vancouver majority in City Council in November 2022 cancelled all further planning work on road tolls in the Metro Core. But the idea of road tolls was also recently refloated by the Vancouver Park Board as one of many possibilities specifically for managing vehicle traffic within Stanley Park.

Uber argues the CCMP does not fall under the City’s authority to regulate parking, since merely stopping is different from parking.

The ride-hailing fee changes are just one of many considerations under the municipality’s 2024 budget debate.

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