There’s some work being done to see if popular ride-sharing services such as Uber or Lyft could be offered in Owen Sound.
Council recently approved a plan to engage with stakeholders and to work with Grey County to identify an appropriate ridesharing service provider.
“Ridesharing has become a popular and convenient mode of transportation in many urban areas and the City of Owen Sound could benefit from exploring its potential implementation,” says a report from Owen Sound Manager of Community and Business Development Paul McGrath.
Some benefits of implementing a ridesharing service in the area included in the report are improved accessibility, reduce traffic congestion, and economic opportunities.
“Grey County has been working and doing some research with ridesharing for the last several months,” says McGrath. “If they are going to continue pursuing it, great we should align, ideally. If not, then we would look at our own options whatever that may be.”
Both county and city staff have already met with ridesharing companies like Uber, Ride Well, and URide.
Mayor Ian Boddy says, “Paul and I have have met with the Chamber of Commerce as well and they are looking at it from a hotel point of view and restaurant point of view as well, and looking at different options and they are researching what other communities have done.”
McGrath’s report says there are a few challenges associated with introducing ridesharing services, including a regulatory framework, the impact on existing services like taxis and public transportation, and data privacy as ridesharing platforms collect user data.
If the city proceeds ends up proceeding, it can explore different approaches. Those could include either having an open market by encouraging existing ridesharing platforms to operate in the city if they follow city regulations, or to collaborate with existing transportation providers to create a hybrid model, which combines traditional taxi services with ridesharing.