Toronto committee calling for tighter rules for Uber, less-stringent for taxi industry
Lower licensing fees, vehicle inspections and relaxed safety standards, surge pricing limited by riding-sharing apps

InsideToronto.com
April 16, 2016
David Nickle

Toronto's Licensing and Standards Committee is recommending that Toronto Council kill a new bylaw that would allow Uber X ride sharing app to operate cars for hire with far fewer costs and regulations than Toronto's taxi industry.

At the same time, the committee has supported elements of the report that remove costs and regulations from Toronto's licensed taxis.

The recommendation is a boon for taxi plate owners, who if council goes along would see almost all of the reforms that council has imposed on the industry since 1998 rolled back.

No longer would Ambassador, Toronto Taxicab and Wheechair Accessible cab owners have to operate their own vehicles for a minimum number of hours. As well, it would eliminate the requirement that Standard or Ambassador plates would have to be replaced by non-negotiable Toronto Taxicab Licenses upon sale.

All Ambassador taxis would be deemed standard taxis, and restrictions prohibiting individuals from owning more than one cab would be removed.

Gone from the report is the special status that Uber and other app-based cars for higher would enjoy: lower licensing fees, less onerous vehicle inspections and relaxed safety standards, as well as permission to offer surge pricing.

The committee did approve certain measures to increase safety, however. It supported motions from Scarborough Agincourt Councillor Jim Karygiannis, requiring that drivers speak English, that all cars be required to have snow tires in the winter as well as cameras, and that a 10 cent per fare levy be extracted to go to creating an accessibility fund.

All of this can be undone by Toronto Council but in the meantime, the committee offered up more than what most of the more than 100 deputations asked for.

Scarborough Centre Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker was the single vote against measures that would reduce regulatory burden on the taxi industry. In that sense, he called the proposed bylaw “a complete abandonment of even the simplest public safety measures.”

In particular, he said that the lack of requirement of on-board cameras created a serious hazard.

And he argued that the possibility of flooding Toronto downtown streets with as many as 10,000 new Uber cars goes against the city’s policies.

The vote followed two days of typically emotional public deputations on the proposed bylaw—with the more than 100 deputants heavily weighted to drivers and plate owners who repeatedly told councillors  the proposed bylaw would allow Uber to run them out of business.

Deputants were repeatedly warned not to engage in personal attacks on city councillors, Mayor John Tory (who supports the bylaw), and city staff who authored the report.

Uber, meanwhile, sent in a letter saying that the bylaw as written by staff needed to be even more permissive to their business model.

Beaches-East York Councillor Janet Davis said she had great empathy for the drivers who spent two days in council chambers waiting to speak on the matter.

“I know that for many of you, what we are about to consider will determine whether you will continue to be a driver, or be an ambassador driver, or whatever role you have in the city,” she said. “Uber is what they self-describe as a disruptor. They use a variety of techniques that are predatory.”

Davis said she hoped that Uber would either fall in line with fair regulations or simply leave.

“If Uber is not prepared to accept this, maybe Uber will just walk away,” she said.