The company that controls around 40% of the city's taxi industry is on the verge of bankruptcy, according to a new report in the Journal de Montréal.
The Journal reports that Alexandre Taillefer's Taxelco, which owns Diamond Taxi, Taxi Hochelaga and Téo Taxi, has continued to miss the performance targets imposed by its investors.
As a result, the Caisse de dépôt, along with the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Fondaction CSN have decided to withhold the second half of a planned $7.5 million investment in the firm.
The principal weight on Taxelco's fortunes has been the Téo Taxi division, which uses expensive electric cars and pays its drivers an unusually-high hourly wage even when they aren't carrying passengers. Téo has received millions in subsidies from the provincial and federal governments since it commenced operations in 2016, but has struggled to turn a profit since then.
Investors are reportedly demanding significant changes to Téo's business strategy, including potentially limiting it to a service operating solely between downtown and the airport. Until then, the Journal reports, they will refrain from investing money in any of Taxelco's brands at all.