The Passenger Transportation Board has announced five additional ride hailing company applications in British Columbia including service on Vancouver Island.
In its second round of decisions, the Board has approved the application for Kabu Ride Inc. to operate in the Capital Regional District as well as other parts of Vancouver Island. It is the first ride-hailing company approved for Greater Victoria.
In total, the company has been approved to operate in five regions across the Province including the Lower Mainland and Whistler, the Okanagan and Northern BC.
The approved application means now Kabu will need to secure appropriate motor vehicle insurance and to work with municipalities in their operating areas to ensure compliance with local by-laws.
The Passenger Transportation Board is described as an independent licensing organization that makes decisions on applications relating to passenger directed vehicle authorizations in British Columbia.
In a press release issued Friday morning, the organization said the decisions were made following “a careful review of the extensive materials received during the application process which included supporting information provided by the applicants and submissions from interested members of the public and stakeholders.”
Kabu Ride Inc. is a subsidiary of GoKABU Group Holdings Inc, a software development company established in Richmond back in 2016. Their focus in the ride hailing space is said to be targeting tthe “market share that other service providers have shown little or no interest in” such as tourism, international students and new immigrants.
Below is a commercial for Kabu released back in 2018.
Users might be excited that ride hailing has been approved for some of the more populated areas on Vancouver Island, however, it might be a cumbersome process at the beginning. At first glance, it does not appear that a rider version of the app is available on the Android system. Also, a search in English on the app store brings up a disclaimer saying that “the application is not available in your country or region.”
Kabu does operate in multiple languages and as part of their application they suggested that the KABU App “translates the entire in-app experience to the most commonly spoken languages and, upon request, will match a traveler to a driver speaking the same language.”
The organization’s application also emphasized that they are hoping to begin operation immediately on the Island.
Although Kabu was approved, two other companies who had applied for service on Vancouver Island, Inorbis and Tappcar, were refused.
We’ve reached out to Kabu for comment and will update this story as we learn more.
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