TRENTON - Trenton town council is looking to create a regional taxi bylaw – and has been looking at what can be done to make it more compatible with taxi bylaws in adjacent communities.
Council discussed a draft for a widespread bylaw that would ideally be applied to all municipalities in Pictou County.
“We’re trying to get a uniform taxi bylaw throughout the county, and gathering information from the other towns,” said Trenton Mayor Shannon MacInnis.
“We’re going to use our proposal as a solid model, when bringing forward a proposal.”
At the Oct 30. committee of council meting, CAO Brian White said, “the original attempt was to have a uniform bylaw adopted by all the municipalities to cover taxis – at this point, that process has not gone forward.”
“Looking at this, we probably need a complete review of the town’s policies and bylaws,” White added.
Council spoke about the difficulties that can arise from communities in Pictou County having different taxi bylaws, with services operating between municipal boundaries.
Coun. Don Hussher said the other five municipalities in the area have their own taxi bylaws – each of which are somewhat similar, but with some that are older than the others.
“The problem is that Pictou County doesn’t have a bylaw. I don’t know what we experience here, but in Westville and Stellarton, they’re running without any conditions on them,” said Hussher. “Basically, they’re coming into town picking up fares and it’s not competition as much as it’s a liability.”
Hussher said areas of concern relate to regulation – or lack thereof – in matters that include licensure, safety and criminal record checks for drivers. Another concern was the potential difficulty enforcing a local bylaw, with taxis from other municipalities operating in Trenton.
“That is why we have proposed a joint one for the county,” said Hussher. “Not everyone is buying in – the county said that if the five municipal units came together, they’d at least, be willing to look at it.”
Issues with co-operation between municipalities stem from differences in interpretation, Hussher noted, adding, “for instance, Pictou is looking at something that is enforceable across borders.”
Council will review the proposal for a general taxi bylaw for Pictou County, with the eventual intention of bringing forward a formal proposal.
Mayor Shannon Macinnis said that if Trenton’s proposal for a general taxi bylaw for the county isn’t adopted, there will be some tweaks done to it, to make it a bylaw specific to Trenton, “but hopefully it’s adopted by everyone in the county.”
