Council to hire consultant to draft new rules for Uber ride-sharing

Windsorstar.com
Nov. 16, 2015
By Craig Pearson

City council will hire a consultant to help draft a new bylaw aimed at sharing-economy companies such as the newly arrived ride service Uber.

In a debate that touched on budget, business fairness, and the difficulty of enforcing bylaws with Uber, councillors decided to go the route that taxi drivers in the audience supported. Council will look at creating a new law aimed at creating more of a level playing field between cabbies and Uber drivers.

“We need a made-in-Windsor approach,” said John Toth, vice-president of Unifor Local 195 which represents Vets cabbies.

Toth urged council not to rush a decision on Uber, which does not pay the same fees or taxes that taxi drivers do.
Toth also said Uber is breaking the law and urged the city to do something about it.

Mayor Drew Dilkens said enforcing bylaws against Uber is difficult.

“You can do enforcement, but it’s very, very challenging,” said Dilkens, who added last week that Uber is not following the city’s Public Vehicles Licensing Bylaw.

He noted that in other cities Uber simply pays the fine and continues on. Dilkens also said - because Uber cars are not marked and have no central depot - that enforcement has to be a type of sting. The bylaw enforcement officer has to call Uber and then hand fines to drivers who arrive to pick up riders.

Yet Dilkens says that to request a ride, a name and credit card number must be registered with Uber. Once Uber flags a credit card as being used by an enforcement officer, however, they no longer respond to those ride requests.

The enforcement challenges are partly why Dilkens supports hiring a consultant. He said he wants to make it better for everyone to do business in Windsor - taxi companies and Uber alike - by making it fairer.

Coun. Irek Kusmierczyk, however, felt it did not make sense to spend $30,000 for an outside consultant. He made a motion to have the city come up with new bylaws in house, though that motion was defeated.

“It seems like there’s a certain inevitability to this Uber business,” said Coun. Hilary Payne, who considers it naive to think that Windsor can keep the ride-sharing service out of Windsor. “I can’t see any advantage proceeding with a $30,000 consultant.

“It’s a waste of time and public money.”

But Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac summed up the majority of council’s opinion - the motion to hire a transportation consultant passed 7-4 - when she said she didn’t want to add to the city’s budget but felt it makes sense in this case.

“We need a Windsor perspective,” she said. “The $30,000 is not going to be something I’m going to enjoy spending, but I think it’s neccessary.”