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Recruiting drivers remains a challenge, said van Hemmen. The government’s decision to require Class 4 licences with extra training and tests has prevented some safe drivers from being able to provide rides, he said.

The provincial approval came as Metro Vancouver mayors finish work on an interim regional business licence for ride-hailing, which is expected to be ready by the end of the month. For now, Uber and Lyft will have to go to each municipality for a local business licence, where one is available, and they will face differing fees, requirements and processing times.

In Vancouver, Mayor Kennedy Stewart said the city expedited the process to issue local approvals by the end of day Thursday.

But in Surrey, the process is sure to be more difficult. Mayor Doug McCallum has pledged allegiance to the taxi sector and vowed to use the local business licence process as a way to block or restrict ride-hailing.

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TransLink’s Mayors’ Council will announce the framework of a regional ride-hailing licence in late January or early February, but it will still be up to each individual council to decide whether they will join the licensing system, said Jonathan Coté, Mayors’ Council chair and mayor of New Westminster.

“There is a bit of a patchwork right now right now where some cities have set up their own individual processes, but many cities have actually not set up any process, and in that situation nothing needs to be applied for yet,” he said.