Cabbie Harnek Brar says he has to deal with problem customers from time to time, more so when it's dark outside.
"I start in the early morning and early morning there's some drunk people and they have no money," said Brar.
He says fights over fares with people refusing to pay can create a safety issue for him and his fellow drivers.
"Big problem and they break down our cars too," said Brar.
The City of Winnipeg is exploring a way to cut down on those fare disputes by having customers pay up front.
"It's one of the most violent areas of safety for both drivers and passengers," said Grant Heather, the city’s manager of vehicles for hire.
Heather says a pilot project is in the works where taxi passengers across Winnipeg would have to fork over a mandatory minimum pre-payment late at night and overnight.
"On the taxi side we're dealing with a lot of unknowns, passengers will get into a taxi, they're not known to the driver, they may be picked up at various hotels in potential states of intoxication," said Heather.
Heather says the exact amounts and hours have yet to be worked out. He says the methods of payment could include cash, debit or a pre authorized credit card and the minimum fee would be based on the trip length.
Still not everyone is comfortable paying before their ride.
"I would not like it,” said rider Eve Gutidrrez. “Just the fact that I wouldn't know what the distance is and just asking for payment ahead of time."
By making everyone subject to the proposed changes, the city is also hoping to reduce a concern some have -- that they're being singled out and discriminated against when asked to pay upfront.
"That is a complaint that we've heard, it's very unfortunate because there's absolutely no reason it should be happening," said Heather.
Harnek Brar supports the pre-payment plan. The pilot is set to run this spring for nine to 12 months. Brar wants the city to make it permanent.
"Well, otherwise there's fighting every day," said Brar.
