Mississauga will not compensate taxicab licence owners for the loss of value on their plates, because it can’t.

Instead, it will request the province to take a look at the matter, as municipalities are not permitted to provide compensation as per the Municipal Act.

The city’s taxi drivers have held taxi licence plates since they began operating. Before the rise of ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft, the value of those licence plates were considerably higher, high enough for owners to hold on to them for retirement since the plates are transferable.

But today, as a result of market changes, the value of those plates has significantly decreased, prompting taxi drivers to ask the city for compensation.

“They used to be worth around $200,000,” taxi licence plate owner Peter Pellier said. “And now they sell for $10,000.”

The initial request was submitted to the public vehicle advisory committee on Feb. 11, and then again to city council on Feb. 27. Council told PVAC members and other taxi drivers it would review its options.

At a council meeting on May 15, city staff reviewed various compensation options and explained that municipalities were not legally permitted to offer taxi drivers any form of monetary compensation for their plates, as outlined in the Municipal Act.

There are no municipalities providing any compensation to the taxi industry, city staff told council. The province of Quebec in 2018 offered $250 million to taxi owners for compensation for the losses in permit value, and increased that amount to $770 million by imposing a 90 per cent temporary surcharge on vehicle-for-hire trips in Quebec.

“This is our fault,” Coun. Carolyn Parrish said at the meeting. “We overregulated them for 25 years, we played with the pilot project for two years, and those licences went down to 10 per cent of their value.”

City council approved a bylaw on June 5 based on the Transportation Network Company pilot project which began in June 2017. It aimed to determine compliance rates of ride-hailing trips, assess the impact on public vehicle bylaw deregulation and develop framework to regulate ride-hailing apps.