First ride-hailing company approved in the Okanagan

Photo: Kabu

After years of missed deadlines from provincial governments on ride-hailing in B.C., the service will finally be coming to the Okanagan. Exactly when is still up in the air though.

On Friday, B.C.'s Passenger Transportation Board approved Kabu Ride Inc. to operate in all regions of B.C., becoming the first approved ride-hailing company in the Okanagan.

While ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft may be more well known, the Richmond-based company, created by two post-secondary students in their early twenties, has actually been operating since 2016.

While the City of Richmond, which opposed Kabu's PTB application, said the company “continuously and flagrantly facilitated unlawful ride hailing services" between 2016 and 2019, Kabu communications director Martin van den Hemel described their past as operating in a “grey space,” before they shut down operations when legislation was introduced last September.

“If we're going to talk legalities, there was no law to break prior to Sept. 16, (2019) for our company,” said Martin van den Hemel.

“We wanted to have a ride-hailing licence in 2016. And then in 2017. And each government, whether it was the Liberals or the NDP, disappointed us." 

"We were ready to put in an application to operate 100 per cent legitimately and that opportunity was never afforded to us, until the NDP government followed through.”

Despite its “grey” past, Kabu was facilitating roughly 3,000 daily rides in Richmond, Vancouver and Burnaby at its peak, employing about 2,500 drivers.

Van den Hemel says while the company plans to have the Okanagan as one of its “core areas,” they won't be able to launch service in the region until they're able to reach “a critical mass of drivers.”

The company is looking for drivers with a Class 1, 2 or 4 licence, a clean driving record and a criminal record check. Application information can be found here.

Van de Hemel doesn't think they'll have much of a problem attracting drivers, claiming their drivers will make the most money compared to other ride-hailing services and full-time drivers will even be provided dental and medical benefits. They're looking to be operating in the Okanagan “as soon as possible.”