A city bylaw could be a factor in an rising impaired driving numbers in Thunder Bay, says the operator of a designated driving service.

Last week, city police said they busted a record 204 impaired drivers in 2019, including 36 in December.

The City of Thunder Bay in 2018 implemented a new vehicle-for-hire bylaw governing the taxi and ridesharing industries in the city following a multi-year process to overhaul the previous taxi bylaw. The new regulations included provisions that require each driver to pay for a city-issued licence.

Driverseat Thunder Bay owner Lawrence Deswiage said those costs have impacted his company's ability to recruit drivers.

"The demand is there," he said. "People want to use our service. People want to get their vehicle home at the end of the night but because of this bylaw it's put a bump in the road for us to be able to get enough people on the road to do this."

Driverseat was only able to complete 33 rides out of the nearly 175 requests they received. Many of their drivers have other full-time jobs and are just looking for occasional work but don't want to pay $175 up front, Deswiage said.

After the bylaw was passed, the number of drive teams went down to 25 per cent of what the company had before, he added.

Deswiage said the company's service allows people to get home in their own vehicles, which he believes could be one reason to help somebody decide to not get behind the wheel.

"Especially in the winter time in Thunder Bay, you don't want to be leaving your vehicle on a downtown street overnight in case it gets plowed in," Deswiage said.