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Of the 278 tickets, the report says 30 tickets were for illegal street hailing, seven for failing to produce insurance papers and six for a dispatching a driver without a valid city-issued vehicle registration or driver’s licence.

Ward 6 city Coun. Scott McKeen said Sunday morning that it’s “frustrating” to hear the enforcement hasn’t been effective.

“All that council was trying to do was create an elegant solution of balance so that everyone could coexist in the vehicle-for-hire world. Now that we know this, we’ll probably have to dig back in and take another serious look at how we can regulate for-hire vehicles so that we can again try to get this balance,” McKeen said.

Increasing the fine

Officials are asking council to increase fines for Uber and TappCar drivers who accept street hails or fail to provide evidence of city registration and insurance when they’re stopped. Staff want fines increased to $1,000 on first offence, $2,000 on second offence, up from $250 now.

The bylaw will more clearly spell out that only taxis can accept street hails — responding to someone at a taxi stand or on the street who has not used an app or phone to prearrange a trip.

Officials also want to increase registration fees to cover the cost of administration and enforcement, reducing the initial fee but increasing per trip fees to 30 cents from six cents now.

They’ll restrict ride-sharing or regional taxi companies from having large logos on their vehicles while they operate in Edmonton. The changes will also clarify sections of the bylaw “for prosecution purposes” and allow city officials to request driver and vehicle registration details in a certain format.

Barry Mah, chief executive for TappCar, said he will be at the meeting Monday to question the new rules and fines around street hails.

estolte@postmedia.com

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