Uber versus taxis showdown returns to council this week
Cabbies want city to return to trying to get an injunction against the still-unregulated UberX.

TheStar.com
Feb. 2, 2016
Jennifer Pagliaro

Half of all Toronto city council meetings this term have contained one common theme: Uber versus taxis.

That debate returns this week with a push from pro-taxi Councillor Jim Karygiannis and his allies on the licensing committee for the city to again try to block the ride-hailing company from operating in the city.

The move follows the City of Calgary’s successful temporary injunction against Uber last year, which was only in place until a hearing for a permanent injunction could be held. But the city and Uber agreed the following month to work toward new regulations while Uber rides remain on hold.

Toronto has already tried and failed to restrict Uber’s operations, losing a bid last year to ban the company. A Superior Court judge said then the company fell outside the city’s own rules for taxis and limousines and therefore wasn’t breaking any bylaws.

Since then, city staff have been working to create new regulations that would bring Uber — which allows users to hail both licensed taxis and unlicensed drivers — into the fold.

Already, council voted to include the ride-hailing app and others like it under the definitions of a taxi brokerage.

Last month, Uber was granted a brokerage licence, meaning the UberTaxi service alone is now operating within the law, city staff said. Still, the city maintains the company is illegally dispatching unlicensed, uninsured cars through UberX.

Regulations dealing with those more fraught issues have yet to be put forward and are expected in April.

As with past council meetings, it’s expected protesters from the taxi industry will be at city hall this week to see whether council will back licensing committee’s push for an injunction.

But they may not get much of a show.

Questions from councillors to the city’s lawyer on a potential injunction are expected to be dealt with behind closed doors.

Drivers, fleet operators, owners of lucrative taxi plates and brokerage owners continue to be frustrated by Uber drivers taking their fares, and the lack of police enforcement.

Those sentiments boiled over in December, when protesters shut down part of Queen St. outside Nathan Phillips Square for hours during a council meeting, drawing the ire of the public.

There have been reports of a possible protest planned next weekend, during the NBA All-Star game, should council not renew its injunction efforts. But Toronto Taxi Alliance spokesperson Sam Moini said “nothing is confirmed.” He refused to comment further on any plans.

December’s protest ended only when Moini and others, aided by councillors, tried to calm the uproar and broker a deal with Mayor John Tory and Police Chief Mark Saunders.

Members of the taxi industry got their promised meeting with Saunders, who said police are waiting for the court to rule on Highway Traffic Act charges already laid against eight UberX drivers before making the next move.

“I think people are just reaching a point where they feel like they’ve not been listened to,” said Beck Taxi’s Kristine Hubbard. But she stressed the company is urging its drivers against taking to the streets again.

“The fear is messages get lost in the delivery,” she said. “We would encourage drivers not to do anything that would be disruptive to our city.”

Uber, meanwhile, sent out an email blast to users Tuesday, asking they contact their local councillors to ask them to vote against an injunction motion.

Tory has said he’ll follow the advice of the city’s lawyers, but has maintained that changing the regulations is the best way forward.

Council meets starting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Also on the agenda are two reports from the integrity commissioner, one clearing Tory of any wrongdoing related to his statements on Uber and his former campaign staff. The second found that Councillor Rob Ford violated the council code of conduct when he promoted a campaign fundraiser using city resources: his ward newsletter.