Penticton taxi companies are upset with Coyote Cruises channel bus service hogging the lion's share of customers.
(SHANNON QUESNEL / iNFOnews.ca)
July 26, 2013 - 12:29 PM
CHARGING UP-FRONT FEES FOR RETURN TRIP JUST BUSINESS: CHIEF KRUGER
PENTICTON - Taxi cab operators are upset with Coyote Cruises hogging the lion's share of people paying for ferry service and might go on strike.
Coyote Cruises rents floaties and charges for bus rides at the start of the Okanagan River Channel. If riders want to get picked up at channel's end to be driven back they pay $5 each, up front, at the starting line.
Courtesy Cabs president Amarbir Singh Kahlon does not approve. In a letter to city council Kahlon said riders wait for the bus and ignore the taxis parked at the pick-up point since they already paid for the bus. There have been times some riders stop waiting for the bus, even after paying $5, and pay a taxi to take them back. Some riders are annoyed for paying double what they expected to go back to the start position.
Coyote Cruises should be charging the $5 return fee at the end of the channel, not the beginning Kahlon said. This way riders can choose between taxis or the bus service. About 100 cab operators working in Penticton have lost almost 90 per cent of the revenue from channel pickups.
"That's business," Penticton Indian Band Chief Jonathan Kruger said about the up-front fees. "We are not going to change what we are doing. It's very successful for us."
The chief added locals and tourists are charged a fair rate and the service is a valuable one.
Kahlon suggested Coyote Cruises gets proper licensing for transporting passengers. He said the bus did not have proper plates but Kruger explained this has been fixed and the bus has been properly licensed.
To contact a reporter for this story, to send photos or videos, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065 or tweet @shannonquesnel1
News from © iNFOnews, 2013