The MHA for Terra Nova district is questioning whether a rural lens was put on amendments to allow ride-sharing services to be allowed in the province.

Lloyd Parrott welcomes the introduction of ride-sharing services across the province, but in debate on the new amendments in the House yesterday, he questioned whether rural operators were consulted for their input.

He says he’s used services like Uber and believes it can work well in St. John’s, but “once you go outside the overpass, there are some difficulties that we face, certainly with smaller taxi companies and their ability to compete with Uber.”

Parrott says app-based services are also challenged by the realities of reliable access to wi-fi in rural parts of the province, something on which many MHAs also agreed.