For years tourists and locals have complained there simply are not enough cabs in Vancouver. At the Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver, hailing cabs is part of the service head doorman Mark Brailey provides, but he says finding a taxi can be frustrating.
"Well, just yesterday with a little bit of snow it can be exceptionally difficult."
Brailey has been hailing cabs for 18 years. He says the population is growing, along with the number of tourists, yet the taxi fleets are not keep up. And when hotel guests have to wait, they let Brailey know how they feel.
Local resident Dylan Scott is not impressed.
"Definitely outside of the downtown core it's quite tricky."
Other residents who live in the trendy Yaletown district say it's almost impossible to get a cab on Friday night, or cabs don't arrive after you call them.
How does Vancouver compare with other cities:
- Vancouver - 588 taxis (one cab per 1100 people)
- Seattle - 651 taxis (one per 880 people)
- Calgary - 1411 taxis (one per 709 people)
- Ottawa - 1,066 taxis (one per 797 people)
Last year the City of Vancouver approved 100 new taxi licences with plans to add more by the year 2010, bringing the total number of cabs to 700.
Stephen Pearce from Tourism Vancouver say he would like to see more cabs in the city. But they won't start lobbying for more taxis, Tourism Vancouver views it as a seasonal issue.
Still Brailey sees that the supply is far below the demand.
"We still could use some more, definitely."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Janet Dirks
