August 2, 2023
On March 29, 2023, the Passenger Transportation Board (Board) gave notice to licensees regarding potential changes to taxi and TNS rates regulation and invited licensees to provide feedback on the considered options. Included in the considered options was #6 “Establishing a new Taxi Cost Index (TCI) to keep pace with inflation.” This option would replace the current annual scheduled review of taxi rates to address ongoing issues that impact rates, including pressures related to inflation and cost-of-living. In June 2023, the Board reviewed feedback from the taxi sector and decided to initiate the construction of a new custom TCI.
For the future, a custom Taxi Cost Index
Enacting a rule under section 7(1)(g) of the Passenger Transportation Act will create a new Taxi Cost Index that calculates custom inflationary and cost-of-living increases more applicable to the taxi sector. This new TCI will consist of only relevant CPI (BC) elements and gathered sector data.
For the present, the Taxi Limousine Cost Index (TLCI) 2023
To help the Board undertake a comprehensive approach to constructing the new TCI, and to ensure the taxi sector is not unduly impacted by rising operating costs, the Board will intake a cost-of-living adjustment under the current TLCI system. Throughout this process, taxi licensees will be allowed to request a rate increase of up to 7.3% for TLCI 2023. This TLCI amount was calculated from CPI (BC) data inclusive of March 2022 (the last TLCI intake) through June 2023.
More information on this topic, including the announcement of 2023 TLCI’s intake period, will be released in the coming weeks.