The long road to Uber becoming legal has taken a detour, but unlike the ones you may be used to this one sped things up quite a bit.
The Quebec government adopted an emergency decree Thursday, allowing the Transport Commission to grant Uber an intermediary taxi transportation licence without having to go through the public hearing phase.
The government explained the move by citing the urgency of the situation, and the need to move the permit process along quicker.
With so much opposition to the controversial ride hailing service, public hearings were expected to take up to three months. The pilot project deal with the government ends October 14, 2017. Any extra time debating the issue wouldn't allow for a fair pilot project to proceed.
Uber's case was therefore treated as a special application for a pilot project, not as a usual licence request, allowing for much of the typical administrative time to be cut.
The intermediary taxi transportation licence will only be valid for the duration of the pilot project.
All that is left for Uber become a legal operation in Quebec: ensure it is fully registered with the province's business registry, file a copy of its contract with its drivers and pay a Transport Commission fee of $268.