Article content

It’s a double broken promise by John Horgan’s NDP government that’s inflicted a double-whammy on Vancouver’s economy and international reputation.

That’s the view of the city’s business leaders after the government broke its promise — again — to deliver ride-hailing services to Metro Vancouver.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Mike Smyth: Inside B.C.'s shameful failure on ride-hailing Back to video

Horgan promised in last year’s election that Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing services would be up and running by Christmas 2017. When that didn’t happen, the government told frustrated customers to wait until 2018.

Now, the New Democrats have kicked the can down the road again, saying ride-hailing won’t become a reality until fall 2019.

That’s two years and two broken promises. But it’s even worse when you read the fine print of last week’s news release, which said the government expects “applications” from ride-hailing companies to be filed by September 2019.

“It can take the Passenger Transportation Board six months to a year to approve an application,” said taxi-industry expert Benn Proctor. “So it could be 2020 by the time Uber and Lyft are potentially operating.”