TappCar shutting down in Winnipeg, exploring female-only ride-share service
A Canadian ride-share service marketed as a discounted, regional alternative to Uber has shut down, with management pointing to the pandemic and soaring fuel prices as factors in its demise.
TappCar CEO Noel Bernier said the service shut down in Winnipeg as of Sunday. The Edmonton-based company had already shuttered operations in all other Canadian cities in early 2021.
According to Bernier, TappCar was still struggling from the fallout of the pandemic when fuel prices rose beyond what was sustainable for the company.
“It was getting impossible to recruit part-time drivers for a discount driver service,” he said.
He added TappCar passenger levels dropped off by 95 per cent when the pandemic first hit in March of 2020, noting Uber’s entry into Manitoba months later made it even more difficult for the Canadian company to recover.
“You have a global competitor like Uber that can afford to lose money during tough times. You have a much lower demand for what I call ‘social riding’. So as bars and nightclubs and that kind of environment went to zero, so did the people needing rides to and from those things,” he said.
TAPPCAR EXPLORING FEMALE-ONLY RIDE-SHARE SERVICE
Bernier said with the former TappCar model in the rear-view mirror, the company is considering switching gears to launch a female-only, safety-forward ride-share company.
The service would likely employ only female drivers and service only female riders.
“From our point of view, the challenges of female safety and ridership have been ongoing and a reality for many, many years,” he said.
“However, the higher rates of violence and higher rates of crime in a post-pandemic area, we believe, make the service more needed than ever.”
Bernier notes they are still reviewing the concept’s viability in Winnipeg. The goal is to launch in the fall of 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Donald Trump picks former U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has nominated former diplomat and U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra to be the American ambassador to Canada.
Genetic evidence backs up COVID-19 origin theory that pandemic started in seafood market
A group of researchers say they have more evidence to suggest the COVID-19 pandemic started in a Chinese seafood market where it spread from infected animals to humans. The evidence is laid out in a recent study published in Cell, a scientific journal, nearly five years after the first known COVID-19 outbreak.
This is how much money you need to make to buy a house in Canada's largest cities
The average salary needed to buy a home keeps inching down in cities across Canada, according to the latest data.
'My two daughters were sleeping': London Ont. family in shock after their home riddled with gunfire
A London father and son they’re shocked and confused after their home was riddled with bullets while young children were sleeping inside.
Smuggler arrested with 300 tarantulas strapped to his body
Police in Peru have arrested a man caught trying to leave the country with 320 tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants strapped to his body.
Boissonnault out of cabinet to 'focus on clearing the allegations,' Trudeau announces
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced embattled minister Randy Boissonnault is out of cabinet.
Baby dies after being reported missing in midtown Toronto: police
A four-month-old baby is dead after what Toronto police are calling a “suspicious incident” at a Toronto Community Housing building in the city’s midtown area on Wednesday afternoon.
Sask. woman who refused to provide breath sample did not break the law, court finds
A Saskatchewan woman who refused to provide a breath sample after being stopped by police in Regina did not break the law – as the officer's request was deemed not lawful given the circumstances.
Parole board reverses decision and will allow families of Paul Bernardo's victims to attend upcoming parole hearing in person
The families of the victims of Paul Bernardo will be allowed to attend the serial killer’s upcoming parole hearing in person, the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) says.