Whitehorse taxi operators faced tougher inspections than normal in November, but most are still in decent shape.

Brian White, a spokesperson for the City of Whitehorse bylaw department, said Tuesday between five and 10 taxis are off the road following last month’s National Safety Code’s Periodic Motor Vehicle Inspection (PMVI) Program. There are approximately 60 taxis registered in the city.

White was critical of media reports broadcast Tuesday that suggested up to 50 per cent of taxies are off the road.

“I don’t know where they got that from,” he said.

The inspection standard is somewhat new to Whitehorse, White said, and is tougher to pass than the traditional inspections.

White said the PMVI inspections are carried out only by red-seal mechanics, and commercial operators face a higher bar than private drivers.

“They raise the standards,” he said.

For instance, some of the taxis that are out of service are waiting on new windshields, which he said can take two or three weeks to arrive.

If the vehicles were being operated privately, they would still be on city streets with that damage, White said, as the proverbial “Yukon” windshield.

That’s an example of the difference in standards between commercial and private, White said.

Other taxi vehicles are waiting for parts to arrive to fix minor to moderate issues, he said. Again, most of these are problems that private operators could put off.

“There’s a lot of delays on parts,” White said.

The other thing White said he is hearing from operators is that the taxi business is in a slump right now.

There are not a lot of fares to be had, he said, and many taxi drivers are owner-operators who choose their own hours.

“They work when they want to,” so that might be why it it looks as if there aren’t as many taxis on the road. It’s also why there might be delays in requesting a taxi.

“We’re certainly not short on vehicles,” he said. “It’s a combination of circumstances.”

While the city bylaw regulating taxis doesn’t put age limits on vehicles used as taxis, White said many of the older vehicles are slowly being retired from service as inspections tighten up. It simply becomes too costly to bring an older vehicle up to the current commercial standards to be viable.