Before meters were fitted with a new red seal this week, taxis drove a short distance to check the meter was calibrated correctly. A camera, another mandatory part of the bylaw updates, can be seen on the left. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

New regulations

Taxi meters sealed in accordance with bylaw updates

Dec 11, 2019 | 8:15 AM

The city of P.A. hopes to seal the meters of all 36 taxis in the city this week.

The seal prevents the meters from being opened and tampered with to adjust rates.

Mayor Greg Dionne told paNOW there hasn’t been complaints of tampering in the past, but meter seals were common in other municipalities the city consulted with while drafting updates to the taxi bylaw.

“We toured all over and they kept bringing up that all their meters are checked and sealed,” he told paNOW.

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Before the meters were sealed by city staff, taxis drove a short predetermined distance to ensure the devices’ calibrations were consistent with the rates set out in the bylaw.

The base fare is $3.50, plus $0.10 for each additional 33 meters travelled. For each extra minute the taxi is on a trip, including wait-time at the request of the passenger, $0.80 is added.

Owner of Checkers/Family Taxi, Pardeep Kumar, says there haven’t been any issues with the meters in the past, but he supports the new measure.

He added that all his cars were now either already outfitted with cameras or had ordered them and would have the technology installed soon.

A few taxi meters were already sealed, so staff cut off the old ones before adding the new red versions.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom