Uber launches petition ahead of Toronto’s draft regulations

The Uber-taxi debate is about to take centre stage - again - when city staff release a new regulatory regime

Thestar.com
March 29, 2016
By Betsy Powell

Torontonians fasten your seatbelts.

The Uber-taxi debate is revving up as the city’s licensing staff prepare to release proposed regulations for cabs and ride-sharing services operating in Toronto.

On Tuesday, Uber Canada made a pre-emptive move by announcing a public-relations campaign, including an online petition, asking Toronto residents to urge city councillors to support “smart” and “progressive” ride-sharing regulations.

Ian Black, the company’s general manager, stressed the campaign is a “positive” one, that emphasizes how Uber, specifically the UberX service, helps reduce congestion and emissions while providing rides for hire in areas of the city, such as Jane and Finch, “previously ignored by transit and by traditional transportation options.”

The aim is also to send a message “what is at stake if city council gets this wrong,” Black told a news conference at the company’s Adelaide St. headquarters. Uber has more than 500,000 regular users in Toronto.

“It’s worth noting that those on the other side of the issue want to protect the status quo and put the interests of a few ahead of our city’s future.”

“Smart” means a regulatory regime that’s different than the one regulating the taxi industry, since most UberX drivers are only behind the wheel between five and 10 hours a week, he said.

“We’ve heard quite good feedback, we’ve heard that city council does have an appetite to move forward and create positive regulations.”

Black added it’s “too soon” to discuss whether Uber would leave Toronto if the city imposes regulations that “really restrict the model in some way.”

The city’s licensing committee is set to review the staff report in April ahead of council’s vote in May.

Representatives of the taxi industry said Black’s insistence that the city give Uber its own set of rules, is “ludicrous.”

“Why would Uber get special treatment?” said Rita Smith, executive director of the Toronto Taxi Alliance.

“The idea that we would diminish safety regulations because most Uber drivers only drive five or 10 hours a week flies in the face of everything the industry has done and municipalities have done ... to protect passengers,” she said Tuesday.

The taxi industry’s position is simple.

“Whatever they come out with, if it’s identically the same for the cab industry as it is for Uber, the cab industry will compete,” she said.