Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Feb 05/99) - Inuvik's taxi bylaw review is nearly complete and speculation is that radical changes will not only impact concerns such as residency requirements but also eliminate the controversial 20-car freeze.

Taxi Commission member Coun. Garry Smith says the new bylaw could be reviewed this month and released soon.

"The intent of the review is to tighten up some of the holes and make it equitable," he says.

One such hole, where there seems to be unanimous support against it, is the requirement that drivers live in Inuvik.

The freeze of 20 cabs on the streets is more contentious.

"The previous council had set the number at 20 and I think we want to sit down and study why 20 and where that number came from," Smith says.

Meanwhile, Derek Lindsay, who was the Co-op taxi administrator until he shut the company down last month, says he expects the freeze to be removed.

"They are all self-employed individuals so they should be treated the same as any other self-employed individual operating a business," Lindsay says.

"We don't put any rules around saying there can only be five of you and three of you and one of you. It's an infringement of human rights isn't it? The right to work."

He is now pushing for a bylaw similar to the one in Fort Smith where, though there are currently nine cabs on the streets split between two companies, there is no limit on the potential number.

Lindsay closed Co-op because he did not have enough drivers to be able to compete. While he says he needed 10 drivers to make the venture financially feasible, he only had six drivers, with that number declining.

Since the closure, he says his stress level has "fallen to very minimal."

When the company was up and running, Lindsay says the drivers were "complacent."

"They were working when they wanted to work. It was getting to be ridiculous. I was having days when there was one cab on and I couldn't keep up with the calls," he says.

Lindsay cites constant monthly expenses for dispatchers, rent and phone lines as what sunk the business, given its small number of drivers.

All former Co-op drivers found work at United Taxi, which now holds a monopoly, and even with the bylaw changes drivers will still have to be accepted by an official company.

If the freeze is removed, another company may sprout and receive a livery licence from the town.

"I think the way the bylaw is steering is there will be a limit of two livery licences for Inuvik," says Lindsay.

"No one wants it to go back to a few years ago when there were four."