A new $100 fine aims to crack down on Calgary partygoers who vomit in taxicabs, but drivers say they’ll have little recourse if their puking passenger is too drunk or belligerent to pay up.

The fine, approved by city council last week, is aimed at reimbursing cabbies for at least part of the cleanup costs and lost work hours they incur when a passenger throws up in their vehicle.

Officials also hope the ability to charge a fee might help make some drivers less reluctant to work late-night shifts, easing the problem of supply and demand that crops up every weekend when the bars close.

But while Calgary Cab Drivers Association president Rupinder Gill said the fine is a positive step, he acknowledged it will be up to the driver to enforce it. Depending on the state the passenger is in, that might be no easy task.

“If a guy’s drunk and puking in your car, how are you going to get the money from him?” Gill said. “I’m there to provide a service, I don’t want any trouble. If he doesn’t want to pay, I’m not going to fight him on it.”

Cab fine poll

Gill has only had a passenger vomit in his cab a couple of times, but says he always carries plastic bags with him and “touches wood” every time he heads out for a night shift. He said he’s hopeful that if the new fine is well-publicized, passengers will at least be aware of it and won’t think they’re being ripped off if a driver asks them to pay up.

“There are drivers who will just drive away if a drunk guy gets into their cab and he looks like he’s going to vomit,” Gill said. “So this is really about education on both sides. If worse comes to worse, the driver can drive them to the police station if he really wants to. It’s up to him, how he wants to handle it.”

Calgary’s decision to implement a “vomit tax” makes it part of a growing North American trend. In Austin, TX, cab drivers can charge $100 if a customer soils their cab. In Chicago, the fee is $50.

Just this month, B.C. introduced a provincewide $75 cab cleanup fee, while the City of Toronto’s $25 fine came into effect July 1.

Sajid Mughal — president of iTaxisworkers Association, which represents over 1,000 Toronto cab drivers — said it’s too early to gauge the success of that city’s bylaw.

“It’s a fairly new bylaw, and so far none of the drivers have had any complaints of somebody puking in their car,” he said.

But Mughal added that just like in Calgary, there is nothing in Toronto’s bylaw to assist the driver if an unruly passenger refuses to pay for his or her mess.

“If the police are there, that’s different. But by the time the police come, we don’t have any ID, we don’t have anything to identify the customer and make a complaint. There’s nothing more we can do,” he said.

Sandy Jenkins of the Calgary advocacy group Voters for Taxis said he thinks it’s rare for a customer to actually throw up inside a taxi, but added he doesn’t have a problem with a $100 fine if it happens.

“It should be more, it should be $200. Let’s face it, being a cabbie is a tough job,” he said.

But Jenkins added a difficult-to-enforce fine doesn’t go nearly far enough to address the city’s cab shortage during weekend peak hours.

“It’s quite clear we don’t have enough taxis that are willing to work at night,” Jenkins said. “And this is just another unenforceable city bylaw that will have no impact.”

astephenson@calgaryherald.com