The desire to bring a rideshare service to North Bay is gaining traction, as evidenced by a new and rapidly growing Facebook group.
The Facebook group, North Bay Needs Rideshare!, was created by local resident Anthony Campigotto on Monday, March 25. By Wednesday, the group had expanded to more than 600 members, with more joining by the hour.
The group’s description states that “This group is part of a citizen lead push to introduce the cost effective convenience that a Ride Share company can offer to us as members of this community.”
Ridesharing companies have exploded in popularity in recent years. Customers needing a ride can order a car with a mobile phone app. The customer can choose if they want a personal car to go directly to their destination, or can share the ride with other passengers who are picked up and dropped off along the way. These shared rides are typically much more affordable and have less environmental impact. Rather than an unknown fare, as typical with taxis, passengers utilizing a rideshare company know the fare in advance.
Campigotto, a registered psychotherapist, is pleased with the community response to the Facebook group.
“It’s been fantastic. You never really know if something will catch on with social media but when we got up to around 200 people on the first day, I realized there was a good positive reaction,” he said.
“For me the group has two major functions. One, is to act as a sort of petition, where for every person who joins is one more person who is in support of this idea. The secondary function is to disseminate the information as it comes in.”
Cody Ruberto, who started rideshare company URIDE in Thunder Bay, joined the group on Wednesday morning, stating that the stories being shared in North Bay echo what he heard in Thunder Bay before launching URIDE. The company is now expanding to Sudbury and Chatham/Kent.
“We'd be happy to try and solve some of the transportation issues you've been experiencing, we would just need support from the city, and people wanting to step up and drive,” Ruberto said in his post.
North Bay city councilor Marcus Tignanelli is a member of the Facebook group and has expressed his support for bringing rideshare to North Bay.
Campigotto isn’t sure what could be holding up a rideshare program coming to the city, but points to three possible roadblocks including 1) Safety: is it safe and is it regulated?; 2) Revenue: will the money stay in the city or in Canada?; and 3) Change: people’s resistance to change and the familiarity with using taxis.
“To my knowledge, there has been no front facing opposition to this publicly from City Hall,” said Campigotto. “From a safety perspective, these drivers are tracked by GPS from the parent company, they are reviewed, and they get criminal background checks. They are certainly as safe as a taxi.”
North Bay Police Services Board regulates all taxis operating in the city and sets the rate taxis can charge. Their By-Law No. 20 was passed in 2014 and speaks to what defines a taxi and the requirement for licensing.
“In order to operate a ‘taxi like’ business, meaning you transport a person or goods for money you have to comply with the North Bay Police Services Board By-Law No. 20 which is the Taxi By-Law,” said Special Constable John Schultz, Community Safety Coordinator with North Bay Police Service. “There are certain requirements under the by-law which include, a license, the requirement of a ‘Taxi stand’ and the ability to be dispatched to a customer.”
About 200 people work in the taxi industry in North Bay, according to John Strang, owner of U-Need-A-Cab. The industry has expressed their own struggles with the cost of doing business recently.
“We are vehemently opposed to a rideshare operating in North Bay,” said Strang. "They are illegal and undermine safety. We are regulated by the Police Service Board to ensure safety and protect consumers. There are only 85 taxi licenses in the city and we have made a tremendous investment in our city. To bring something new in is dangerous and the volume is simply not there at most times.”
Campigotto has no vendetta against local taxi companies or drivers.
“My message to cab companies is nothing negative, it’s just about saying that the service has become a bit dated. I think cab companies have two options, they can modernize their service to make it more competitive, or perhaps they can work with a rideshare program. Both options are only limited by someone’s pride, in my opinion,” said Campigotto.
