Two cities in British Columbia with statutes banning self-service gas stations have no plans to reconsider, as pump prices exceed $ 2.35 per liter.
Drivers in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland are already paying Canada’s highest prices for petrol, and over the weekend saw another record drop.
Some Vancouver Metro stations charged 236.9 cents a liter on Sunday and Monday, the highest prices ever seen in the region.
These prices are determined by several factors, and producers are partly to blame for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Carbon taxes and other factors also play a role.
Over the weekend, most drivers probably opted for self-service instead of full service at the station, if they ran on smoke and had to fill up, as it’s usually a bit cheaper for a driver filling his own vehicle.
But in two cities in the area, it’s actually against the rules.
Coquitlam and Richmond have statutes prohibiting gas stations from offering self-service options. CTV News Vancouver contacted both cities to see if there were any plans to change that, given how expensive gas is lately.
They both said no.
A Richmond City Council spokesman said the statute was put in place to preserve jobs and ensure that people with disabilities can still access fuel services.
The spokesman said that even during the pandemic, when physical distancing was strongly encouraged, especially in the service industries, the statute continued to “have merits” as it meant fewer drivers were handling the bombs.
They said prices are not higher in Richmond because of the status quo and are consistent with those across the region. The city’s argument against re-examining the statute is basically that it no longer costs drivers more.
In Coquitlam, where there is also a regulation that makes it mandatory for fuel to be distributed only to station employees, the council also has no plans to revise the regulation.
The city’s director of development services told CTV News that the council has historically expressed its belief that the law is important for people with disabilities or other mobility disabilities.
And it is true that it is difficult to say what the impact really is, when there are no self-service bombs in these cities with which to compare it. Prices already vary widely in the region, and even from station to station, drivers may find some savings or end up paying more.
For example, on Knight Street Sunday some stations charged 235.9, while others a little further south indicated the price of regular gasoline by about 10 cents less.