City should demand UberX drivers prove proper insurance: Taxi industry

Toronto Taxi Alliance hopes the issue will influence a council vote this week on new regulations that don’t require UberX drivers to personally prove they’re insured.

Thestar.com
May 1, 2016
By Betsy Powell

The Toronto Taxi Alliance says UberX drivers should be required to prove they have proper insurance before the city allows them to carry paying passengers.

The TTA will raise the issue at a news conference Monday in a last-ditch effort to pressure councillors to reject Uber and its popular UberX car service ahead of this week’s vote on a regulatory regime for taxis and ride-hailing companies.

Council begins meeting Tuesday.

Late last month, the TTA wrote to the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), the agency that regulates insurance, to express concern “about the erroneous perception” that unlicensed taxi drivers are all purchasing new insurance products.

“In fact, we are well aware from industry conversations that a minuscule number of unlicensed drivers will purchase these products, if in fact any ever do,” says the letter obtained by the Star.“They have managed to drive passengers for compensation for months or years without notifying their insurance companies, and they have no plan to change their behavior now.”

Earlier this year, Aviva Canada became the first insurer in the country to introduce a policy specifically for people driving up to 20 hours a week for Uber and other ride-hailing companies.
In response to the TTA’s letter, Tom Golfetto, director of FSCO’s Automobile Insurance Division, wrote that “municipalities may require proof of insurance for ridesharing vehicles as part of any licensing framework as they currently do for taxis.”

According to Uber Canada, Toronto has approximately 20,000 UberX drivers who use their own vehicles and the company app to pick up paying customers.

This week, council will debate and vote on staff recommendations that would create a new licensing category, Private Transportation Company (PTC), for ride-hailing services such as Uber, while relaxing rules for traditional taxi drivers.

Staff is asking council to “require that a PTC ensure all PTC drivers and vehicles have Automobile Liability Insurance with limits of not less than $2,000,000 inclusive,” the same amount carried by taxis.

Drivers must “provide confirmation (to the PTC) that their personal insurance company has been advised that they offer or intend to offer transportation through a PTC,” the licensing staff report says.

Taxis, on the other hand, would continue to present a certificate directly to the city’s municipal licensing and standards department, each year, to renew their plate.

In other words, cabbies will still have to provide proof, while Uber can “ensure” its drivers have insurance. The taxi industry argues Uber cannot be trusted to comply and points to the company’s misleading claims that its $5-million liability policy supplemented drivers’ own personal insurance.

Mayor John Tory supports the proposed regulations pertaining to insurance, and “as for the whole 'prove that they have it' - MLS will have full access to driver records, including insurance certificates,’” Tory spokeswoman Siri Agrell wrote in email.

She added that staff is recommending council require that, “upon request of Municipal Standards Officers,” PTC drivers produce “proof of applicable insurance.”

Asked for Uber Canada’s response as to whether UberX drivers should file proof of insurance directly to the city, spokeswoman Susie Heath wrote in email: “As we have said time and time again, every ride on the UberX platform is covered by insurance.”