Unlike larger centres where taxi regulators control the price and quantity of the service supplied to the market on top of quality and safety, Innisfail is a different ball game.
With tougher drinking and driving penalties having recently been introduced in Alberta, the town is examining service here to ensure coverage and quality is adequate as it crafts its first taxi bylaw.
“We have been receiving a few inquiries and complaints about the existing service,” said CAO Helen Dietz, noting she has been examining regulations in other communities to see what will work here.
While other municipalities only issue a certain number of licences, which can become a valuable commodity themselves, Innisfail's future law will have a more small-town feel to it.
“We're not in that position because we're smaller,” Dietz said. “As long as you're in a small municipality you might not deal with some of those things.”
Here there is just one cab company, Innisfail Taxi Ltd., run by a husband and wife duo.
And as Hazel Plato explains, she and her husband Ray close up shop at 6 p.m. on weekdays because demand isn't even strong enough to sustain regular service during evening hours – although it was busier once.
“It started dying off when they brought in the non-smoking laws for the bars,” she said. “Now we close at 6 p.m. for supper.”
There is sufficient daytime business to operate from 6 a.m. daily and 8 a.m. on Sunday. The pair stays open until 3 a.m. on the weekend.
Plato says she likes chatting with the people she meets, especially seniors.
“I bend over backwards to please most of them and sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don't,” she said. “Innisfail is a nice little town. On the whole the people are very friendly.”
The reality of running a taxi company in a place like Innisfail is in stark contrast to larger markets like Calgary, where some analysts estimate there could be a shortage of about 300 cabs. But then again, those locations don't offer a flat rate of $7 anywhere in town or $5 for seniors.
Plato says business isn't even busy enough to have an additional staff member on regularly.
“I don't like the hours I put in, but the people help,” she said. “You've always got one or two that you just can't please. I do my best and I hope to keep doing my best.”
The new bylaw is expected to come before council in the next few months.
