In Dolbeau-Mistassini, north of Lac Saint-Jean, the city’s only taxi company went out of business a month ago. Last week, that of the Saguenean borough of La Baie announced that it would no longer offer services on weekends. Have taxis become an endangered species in the regions of Quebec?
“This is a service that we consider essential,” says Isabelle Simard, responsible for the file at the City of Dolbeau-Mistassini. The manager fears that road accidents will increase on weekend evenings. “With young people going out on weekends, we increase the risk of impaired driving. »
The municipality of around 15,000 inhabitants believes that it cannot do without such a service. During the day, the local public transit network can meet some of the needs, but in the evenings and on weekends, the problem remains.
In order to avoid the announced end of the service, the mayor, André Guy, had created a crisis unit last January. which gave nothing. Dolbeau-Mistassini has since relied on taxis from the neighboring town of Saint-Félicien to compensate. But the latter also lacks drivers, and “it overflows”, deplores Mme Simard.
A situation that the taxi industry attributes to the combined effects of the pandemic, the labor shortage, the rise in vehicle and fuel prices and — above all — the reform adopted by Minister François Bonnardel in fall 2019.
“The complexity of the changes made, the new reports that the dispatchers must submit, the management of the charge [de 1,05 $ par course depuis la réforme] : all these factors, combined, have caused people to leave the profession under the weight of pressure and uncertainty”, explains Serge Lebreux, former president of the Association des taxis des regions du Québec (ATRQ ) and director of Taxi Porlier, present in Gaspésie, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Côte-Nord.
“The uncertainty has also scared away people who, in another context, could have acquired the companies. Taxi Porlier hasn’t offered evening service for a year and a half, and Mr. Lebreux says that “the next step is to close the door.”
The 2019 reform criticized
Dolbeau-Mistassini is far from unique. In addition to Gaspé and La Baie, where services are struggling, Saint-Pascal de Kamouraska, Dégelis, Lac-Mégantic, Chibougamau and Trois-Pistoles have all seen their taxi services disappear in recent years.
Last Thursday, the Legault government precisely tabled the report on the effects of the new Act concerning remunerated passenger transportation by automobile in the National Assembly. However, the report signed by Minister François Bonnardel is silent on the closings which are increasing in the region.
Very technical, the document concludes that the implementation of the Law “appears on the whole to have gone well”, but that “the impact of the pandemic makes it impossible to observe the quantitative and qualitative effects of the Law in a normal context. The Minister also praises the fact that as of September, the fleet of vehicles authorized to taxi was greater than that which prevailed before the adoption of his reform.
However, this does not reflect what is happening on the ground, according to Mr. Lebreux. “According to our members, this is a 40% reduction in the fleet. »
Meanwhile, in town, the number of cars may be the same, but they are used less than before because the owners have stopped subletting their taxis when they are not working, Frédéric Prégent points out. , of the Montreal group Taxelco (Téo Taxi, Taxi Diamond and Taxi Hochelaga). “The report fails to say that there are fewer drivers. Before, we had 2,800 drivers for 1,500 vehicles. Today, we have 1,500 vehicles for 1,600 drivers. That makes 1200 drivers who are evacuated from the equation. »
To attract drivers, the industry is now asking to be allowed to raise its rates. She appeared before the Transportation Commission last week to demand a 25% hike.
Will this be enough to bring taxis back to the region? “That’s the $100 question,” replies Mario Cyr, president of the Comité provincial de concertation et de développement de l’industrie du taxi (CPCDIT), who manages a taxi company on the South Shore, in the region of Montreal. “The guys have to be able to make some money. It is their livelihood. It’s not like Uber, where drivers make a little extra income at the end of the month. »
On the side of Uber
The American on-demand transport company announced last week in Trois-Rivières that it would be present in the region this summer. Uber’s activities are currently limited to Quebec, Montreal and Gatineau.
Could this be the solution to the problems of a town like Dolbeau-Mistassini? “I don’t know if we’ll be able to fill the gap, but we’ll at least improve the situation,” replied company spokesperson Jonathan Hamel. “The application will be available everywhere,” he recalls, before emphasizing that “there are markets that are maturing faster than others.”
In the taxi industry, we are skeptical. “What is clear is that the new law which was built on the model of Uber, it does not work. Even Uber no longer has drivers,” argues Frédéric Prégent, of Taxelco.
“In the regions, there is no concentration of population. I’m not sure Uber could survive in the Gaspé, says Bonaventure MP Sylvain Roy. The number of races is not important enough, the State must take over. »
Questioned on this subject, the Ministry of Transport replies that the labor shortage “has become a generalized phenomenon for the entire economy, and not only for the taxi industry”.
And, about service holes, the principle of supply and demand should fill them over time, explains its spokesperson, Nicolas Vigneault. “The Law has liberalized access to the profession of transporting people by car, which should facilitate the arrival of new players and an increase in supply. »