Why is Community Transportation Stalled Out in Owen Sound? Another Look at Taxi & Rideshare Issues
Why can’t people in Owen Sound get where they need to go? We examine five years of stalled progress—and issue a challenge to Council and the Owen Sound Police Services Board.
EDITORIAL OPINION
What’s really holding back rideshares, taxis, and better transportation options in Owen Sound? It’s the question we’ve been exploring over the past few months—and it’s sparked some strong responses.
After publishing a January 30 column that questioned the lack of progress on local taxi and transportation policy, The Owen Sound Current received a letter from the Chair of the Owen Sound Police Services Board. It challenged both the facts and framing of that article, in particular my statement that no concrete action had resulted from the City and Police Board’s ongoing consultations and reports on taxis.
“Given that ride-sharing was permitted under the previous taxi by-law going back as far as 2020 I am not sure why a 2023 reader poll by the Owen Sound Current regarding ride-sharing was necessary,” Thompson wrote.
That was news to me. When the Chamber of Commerce asked the City of Owen Sound in 2023 to “look at how it prohibits the opportunity for ride-share opportunities in the City,” the Mayor and Council didn’t say, “We do not prohibit rideshare services.” Rather than clarifying that rideshare services were already permitted, they said they would look into it—leaving many with the impression that rideshares were still restricted.
Access to transportation in Owen Sound wasn’t just limited during off-hours—it had become consistently unreliable at all times of day. Anecdotal reports described wait times of 30 minutes to two hours, if a taxi was available at all.
A downtown bartender told me it was common for patrons to be stranded late at night, while a restaurant server shared concerns about legal liability and personal safety after feeling she had no choice but to drive customers home herself due to the lack of available cabs. A retail worker reported being written up and warned for lateness tied directly to the city’s inadequate transportation options.
Residents feel frustrated and unheard by decision-makers. That was the context behind our poll. The reasoning for it included public engagement, transparency, and building a shared understanding of the issue at hand.
Not much has changed. We asked readers this week how access to and the availability of transportation options in the City of Owen Sound have changed since 2020.
Fully 50% of respondents believe we’re worse off for transportation options than we were in 2020. Another 33% don’t think anything has changed. Just 16% indicated any improvement.
We asked the Mayor and City Manager last week why, if the change to allow rideshares was made in 2020, this clarification was not provided in November 2023 when the Chamber asked about it? Why wasn’t it announced? Why aren’t we talking about this?
They did not respond.
In addition to his distaste for our community polls, Thompson took exception with my failure to recognize all of the progress the Police Board has made on taxi issues.
“Given the actions we have taken over the last year your comment that ‘As we head into February 2025, no concrete action has resulted from the ongoing consultations and reports’ is not accurate,” Thompson wrote on behalf of his board. “The OSPSB has responded to the concerns of the private transportation industry in Owen Sound and provided them with what they requested.”
They listened to the Chamber’s concerns that taxi rates were too low for operators to turn a profit, he said, and they updated the Owen Sound Private Transportation Bylaw in 2024 to increase rates and fares, and lower the fees to taxi licenses, broker fees, and renewals.
All of this information is available, Thompson says, in his board’s meeting minutes. Mayor Ian Boddy, when I asked him for the City’s official position on rideshares, added, “This bylaw is available for the public to read on the police service board’s website, as are other bylaws governing things like body rub parlours and adult entertainment.”
So, fair enough—I likely should have said the ongoing consultations and reports haven’t driven meaningful results. Or substantive change. Or positive impact for Owen Sound residents who rely on public transportation to move around our town.
I see now that any one of those statements would have been more accurate, as it appears Mr. Thompson’s idea of concrete action and mine are not aligned.
What I’ve heard from the City of Owen Sound and the OSPSB this past week is that we’ve had the regulatory environment in place for a rideshare like Uber to come in as a Private Transportation Company and for drivers to get licensed through the police board since 2020.
Except it’s been five years, and that isn’t happening.
And we’ve had higher rates and lower fees for taxi operators since 2024.
Except we still can’t get a taxi, more often than not.
So we asked Uber why they aren’t operating in Owen Sound. Here’s what they told us on March 28:
“A decision to launch rideshare in any community is dependent on market conditions and regulatory complexity. Transportation is increasingly regional, playing an increased role in rural and underserved communities.
As such, it is best to have one set of regulations for a given province.
Legislation and/or bylaws often need to be modernized so that transportation network companies like Uber can operate seamlessly, safely, and compliantly.
Grey County, which Owen Sound is a part of, has endorsed a provincial framework.”
Listen, I’m sure all parties feel they’re working hard and are stuck waiting on others to take the next steps before they can do anything about it.
But people still can’t get around the City of Owen Sound.
If I may be so bold, it seems that approaching this issue one line of policy at a time on a years-long timeline per update may not be the most effective way to get to a solution that actually puts butts in seats, moving around our city. Waiting for provincial policy change is not a solution.
And so, in the spirit of aligning on what concrete action to improve public transportation in Owen Sound would look like and working together toward a solution, I’m issuing a challenge to our local decision-makers.
Years ago, I took part in an accessibility training exercise designed to build empathy and a deeper understanding of the barriers people with accessibility challenges experience in our public spaces. Some blindfolded, others of us on crutches or using other mobility aids, we had to navigate to different floors and through the washrooms of a public building.
Let me tell you—navigating your way blindfolded around a public toilet gives one a whole new level of appreciation for barriers to accessibility.
A challenge for Owen Sound’s policymakers
And so, I challenge Mr. Thompson and his colleagues on the Owen Sound Services Police Board, alongside Mayor Ian Boddy and our elected representatives on Owen Sound Council, to undertake the following exercise and share your findings with the community.
This would go a long way in demonstrating that you fully understand the challenges of mobility in Owen Sound, and the urgency driving the need for meaningful change.
Without using a car or requesting a ride from a friend, make your way from the northwest end of Owen Sound to the Brightshores Health System Emergency Room at 9 p.m. any day of the week. Assuming the 3.4-hour average provincial wait holds true, make your way back to your starting point at 12:30 a.m.
Call taxis to get three imaginary customers home safely between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. from your business in downtown Owen Sound to three different addresses within the city.
Call a taxi to deliver you safe and on time from your home at 23rd St E and 9th Ave E to your job on the Sunset Strip for 8:30 a.m on a weekday morning.
Get home to Beattie St and 4th Ave W from a Saturday afternoon Owen Sound Attack game at the Bayshore using only publicly available transportation.
Go from the top of the 6th St East hill to the closest grocery store and back with a stroller and 3 bags of groceries, using only public transportation, on Sunday morning—the only time you have off work this week for shopping.
It’s time for policymakers to lead with clarity, collaboration, proactive communication, and concrete action. That starts with clearly naming the barriers and trusting in the creativity and resourcefulness of the people of Owen Sound to help solve them.
We can’t afford to spend another five years talking around the issue. People in Owen Sound still can’t get where they need to go.
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I'll bet a quarter not one will take the challenge.