A group of suburban cab companies is threatening to take the City of Vancouver to court over a proposal to freeze taxi licenses for another six months while it takes stock of the industry.

The group – which includes North Shore Taxi, Sunshine Cabs, and Delta Sunshine Taxi – says it has already waited two years during a court battle and another roadblock stopping 38 new taxis from easing a cab crunch is unfair.

“We have vehicles, drivers, licenses, everything is ready to go and the city is now delaying us,” said William McLachlan. “The city has singled us out to be excluded, and they can’t do that. The city of Vancouver has no part in determining public need for cabs.”

But City Councilor Geoff Meggs says the delay is important while the city grapples with a changing industry, including new interest in the city from ride-sharing tech company Uber.

“At this point we would not issue new licenses until we hear what’s proposed on the accessible cab front, the impact of the court decision, and what Uber and other ride-sharing companies that may be interested are proposing,” Meggs said.

Catching a cab in Vancouver is slower than other cities like Toronto, because Vancouver sits at the bottom of numbers of cabs per capita.

In 2012 the provincial taxi watchdog, the Passenger Transportation Board, ordered 137 new taxis to deal with weekend service.

Ninety-nine of those cabs were to be from Vancouver companies, which are now operating. But 38 of those cabs would be from suburban companies. Vancouver companies, including MacLure’s, Yellow Cab, Black Top and Vancouver Taxi, were unhappy the suburban companies were muscling in on their fares and sued to overturn the decision.

Two years later, the Vancouver companies lost their suit, and the province’s order for new cabs was allowed to stand. But by the byzantine logic of taxi regulation in Vancouver, the suburban cab companies also needed approval from the city of Vancouver.

Meggs’s motion, which will be before council on Wednesday, is called “City Action to Ensure Innovative, Increased Taxi Service.” If the motion passes, those 38 cabs will be delayed for at least six months.

“It’s slightly contrarian. We want to talk about more licenses but we’re going to stop giving out licenses. I don’t understand where this is going,” said opposition NPA councilor George Affleck.

The taxi industry in B.C. is tightly regulated by the Passenger Transportation Board, and new licenses are given out extremely rarely. However, they can be traded, and because of the limited supply the value of Vancouver licenses has skyrocketed to some $800,000.

There are 588 licenses held by four companies in Vancouver, meaning the value of the industry approaches half a billion dollars.

However that value is threatened when more licenses come into the system – especially from rival companies.

No one approached by CTV News could give a value for the part-time licences that make up the 38 licences, though some estimated around $150,000 each. Until those cabs are on the street collecting fares, those licenses cannot generate revenue.

Because the system does not operate on a free market, government decisions on the municipal and provincial level are crucial to determine which company can make money.

CTV News asked the major political parties in Vancouver if they had accepted any money from the taxi industry. COPE, the NPA and Vision Vancouver refused to answer the question, while the Cedar Party said it had accepted no money.

However during the last election cycle – the most recent that public numbers are available – the NPA accepted about $6000, and Vision Vancouver accepted about $12000.