Vancouver Cabbies Push For “Vomit” Charge

VANCOUVER – A group ofVancouver cabbies is pushingfor a surcharge that would beadded to a customer’s fare in theunfortunate incidence of vomitin the cab.Kulwant Sahota knows theexperience all too well. He oftenhas to clean up after intoxicatedpassengers, and said it costs him$50 to $100 for each cleanup,reported CTV News.“There’s no dividers in the caror anything and it could end upright in front of you too,” hesaid, “All of a sudden they justthrow up.”He says sometimes drunk passengerscan be persistentenough that they do not want topay and drivers must call police.However Mohan Kang with theBC Taxi Association isn’t sure anew fee is necessary.“In B.C. it isimplemented.It’s just therare cases thatit happens,” hesaid, pointingto the fact thatdrivers can askpassengers tocover the fullcost ofcleanup.But Sahota wants the surchargefront and centre and welldefined for the passenger.“You can say, ‘Hey, this is the setrate and this is what we chargeto have it cleaned,’” he said.Sahota plans to take a report tothe Passenger TransportationBoard, which can recommendchanges to the Taxi Bill ofRights displayed on every taxiwindow, which the B.C. governmentlegislated in 2011.Currently Toronto is looking ata $25 surcharge in case of similarincidents in that city. Sahotais still looking at what that numbermight look like in B.C.Courtesy CTV News