The owner of a Portage cab company is calling for changes, following a robbery in December. Wasiq Razzaq owns Tulip Shuttle, and was driving several customers to Long Plain First Nation on December 15th. When they had arrived, a female tried to remove the keys from the ignition, and then he was slapped by another one of the customers. They had told him he was being robbed, and Razzaq says he immediately got out of the vehicle and ran. He says it appears as though the suspects had attempted to pursue him, but he was able to make it to call police and go to a nearby residence for help.

Razzaq says it wasn't an entirely new situation for him, having been robbed in the past, as well as facing several other incidents while on duty. However, he says this latest incident may result in the company shutting down operations in the city, as permanent drivers are hard to find.

"Personally, I've stopped driving. I'm not driving but if I could get another driver they would drive for the company. It's really hard to find anybody, because any driver can put their own shuttle company together after one or two months."

He says he enjoys his life here in Portage, but a lack of regulations surrounding cab companies has him looking at other communities. Razzaq says while Portage is a smaller centre, the number of incidents cab drivers face is incredibly high.

"I want to stay in this town, but due to these reasons I really want to move. The violations could be stopped by cameras. It's not really hard. While there's probably more violations in Winnipeg, (the suspects) can be stopped because of the by-laws that bring safety cameras and safety shields into cabs."

While cameras would improve the more severe instances, Razzaq still wants additional oversight for the city's transportation operators. He says every driver in Portage has faced instances where a customer started to fight over the fare being charged, and that's something that could be improved with municipal government oversight.

"Ideally, the city could pass a by-law, and in that by-law there should be a condition that no cab should run in this town until they have a camera. The second thing the city should mention is a fare schedule for all cabs. That would help to not create conflict between the customers and the drivers."

While Razzaq may be moving on, he still wants to see these changes put in place to protect all other drivers within Portage la Prairie.

"If I leave this place, somebody else would come in. This isn't that I'm just scared for me, I'm scared for the other cab drivers until they have the cameras in their cabs, and the proper fare schedule."

He notes most other communities of similar sizes have municipal government oversight, citing Winnipeg, Selkirk, and Kenora as some examples. He says this could also cut down on violations by the cab companies themselves, noting some shuttle operators within Portage leave the city to pick up customers, without having the proper permits and licensing in place.

Razzaq says he discussed the issue of cameras in shuttles with Portage City Council before, but no changes have been implemented.