Quote:
Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed
It started off as a way of licensing cabs, and making sure there weren't too many. It has turned into a system that needs to change, but makes it nearly impossible to change without putting lots of people out a large amount of money.
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Cabs have been licensed threw the city in Calgary since the 60's,up until the mid 80's anyone could start a cab company and request plates from the city for an annual license fee with little questions asked.
Amazing as it sounds racism was the biggest reason for the city to lock down the number of plates allowed, Associated Cabs,Red Top Cabs and Mayfair Cabs wouldn't hire anyone that was Hindu,Muslim..etc.Red Top for example would take a drivers application and if you weren't white you would drive for Yellow Cabs,Associated would just throw away your app!
But those very cab companys started complaining about the amount of cabs in the city and demanded a cap on plates.
The city locked the plates down and after a few "hush hush" paid out lawsuits demanded no more racism within the companys.