Taxi meters are coming to Edgartown for at least one company.

After a brief public hearing on Monday, the Edgartown selectmen voted unanimously on a proposed amendment to town taxi regulation that allows vehicles for hire to charge either by flat rates or by using a meter system. The changes come after months of collaboration between Adam Darack, Edgartown IT manager, and the Martha’s Vineyard Taxi Co.

“Hopefully this works out,” selectman Arthur Smadbeck said after the vote went through. “I’m definitely optimistic.”

Although Mr. Darack and the selectmen voiced their approval for the changes two weeks ago, the board scheduled a public hearing to hear from the town’s other taxi companies before officially voting on the amendment. When no other companies appeared for the public hearing, the changes passed with ease. The bylaw change stipulates that the town will have access to the inforrmation contained in the logs (time, location/distance and fare charged) for monitoring purposes.

“This is a huge deal,” said Mike Mszanski, owner of Martha’s Vineyard Taxi. He said metering will allow his company to compete with rideshare apps that price their routes using algorithms that take time of day and distance into account, including Uber and Lyft. Currently most taxis on the Vineyard charge use a flat rate pricing structure.

“We’ll institute the changes midnight tonight,” Mr. Mszanski said.

In the spring, Tisbury adopted a similar bylaw change that allows taxis licensed in their towns to use a metering system. Since then, Martha’s Vineyard Taxi has priced routes with an app called Taximeter, charging $5 to get in the vehicle and then $3.55 for every additional mile. Martha’s Vineyard Taxi has a fleet of 12 cars, with eight licensed in Vineyard Haven and four in Edgartown.

Two weeks ago, West Tisbury voted against requiring taxi meters in the only taxi company chartered in the town, Lighthouse Taxis. Lighthouse picks up exclusively at the airport because the town has no taxi stands.

Unlike West Tisbury’s proposed change, the Edgartown amendment does not require taxis to use meters. Rather, it gives them the opportunity to license their taxis as metered cabs rather than flat rate cabs. Because one of the selectmen’s concerns was that taxi companies could flip-flop between meter and flat rates, the selectmen approved the amendment on the condition that companies would have to license their taxis as one or the other.

“When we license them, we’ll license them as either metered, or unmetered,” Mr. Smadbeck said. “They can’t do both.”

Selectmen also consulted with police chief Bruce McNamee, who voiced support for the changes.

“This is something we’ve been working on for six months now, and if it brings all the companies together we are happy to see it,” the chief said.