Local cab drivers are fed up with paying large insurance premiums and are willing to take action.
About 200 angry cab drivers gathered at Maharaja Banquet Hall yesterday to discuss what to do about soaring insurance premiums.
“They’re charging us about $140 for insurance every week,” said Balraj Manhas, president of the United Cabbies Association of Edmonton. “Even if someone’s been driving for 30 or 40 years, it’s the same payment amount for everybody.”
Manhas said the Edmonton Taxi Service Group –—which runs Yellow Cab, Barrel Taxi, and Prestige Cabs — charges a driver $8,000 for any at-fault accident that’s happened in the last three years.
The group of cab drivers voted unanimously to pursue a lawsuit against the Edmonton Taxi Service Group as well as unify all the cab companies in Edmonton and ask city council to form a city-run central dispatch.
“We are united in this cause, that’s clear,” Manhas said to the group of cab drivers. “We will go ahead with this.”
Mohamed Hersi has been driving a cab in Edmonton for a decade, he said he supports a central dispatch, but thinks it’s a long-term fix.
“We need something to help us right away,” Hersi said. “That is a very good idea, but it takes time.”
The United Cabbies Association of Edmonton will meet with city officials on Wednesday to discuss the idea.
