Toronto vows to crack down on Uber even as court continues to drop charges

Theglobeandmail.com
Dec. 14, 2015
By Ann Hui and Oliver Moore

Even as Toronto taxi drivers placed pressure on police chief Mark Saunders to crack down on UberX, an Ontario court yet again dropped charges against drivers for the ride-hailing service. But the city said this wouldn’t affect their own pursuit of the drivers.

For the second time since Toronto Police’s March sting on unlicensed taxicabs, charges were dropped Friday morning - this time against three of the UberX drivers. As a result, only 8 of what were originally 22 charges remain.

The dropped charges were the result of prosecutors having difficulty providing disclosure of evidence within required deadlines, said lawyer Gerald Chan, who is representing the UberX drivers. In June, 11 of the Highway Traffic Act charges were also dropped after prosecutors said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.

In a statement Monday, the head of Toronto’s Municipal Licensing and Standards said that the abandonment of the Highway Traffic Act charges - which are provincial offences - would have no impact on their own work pursuing Uber under city bylaw.

The department “is continuing to conduct investigations and take enforcement action pursuant to the bylaw,” Tracey Cook said. “These investigations relate to the activities of both the drivers for UberX and Uber itself.”

According to Ms. Cook, 190 charges are being pursued based on investigations undertaken since city council changed the by-law to cover UberX. She expected initial appearances in court on the first 102 of those charges next month.

The crackdowns have not dissuaded Uber from continuing to roll out new offerings.

Last week, the same day as a major taxi protest, they expanded their UberEats delivery service. And on Monday they revealed UberHop, a shuttle-type service that will operate on specific routes into the downtown core and will be free this week.

By using set routes, UberHop resembles a transit service, prompting Councillor Gord Perks to raise concerns on Twitter that it could skim off lucrative routes from the TTC. Ms. Cook said that the city is “reviewing” its operations to see if they comply with existing legislation.

Toronto Mayor John Tory seemed unconcerned about the new service, though. He noted that there are “only so many improvements” that could be done to the King streetcar, which is struggling to serve people in Liberty Village, one market targeted by UberHop.

“We did not do an adequate job of making sure there was public transit available for those people,” he said after a meeting with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, pointing out that his own rail-transit plan will involve a stop in the area.

“This is a marketplace response to a reality, which is there are places in the city that are not as well served by public transportation as they need to be both to get people around, relieve congestion and preserve the environment.”

The difficulty pursuing charges highlights the trouble lawmakers and officials have had in managing the emergence of so-called “disruptive” technologies like Uber - which do not conform to existing regulations. In the case of Toronto, the city’s by-laws were updated only in the fall officially to capture Uber, and formally make the company’s UberX service illegal.

The withdrawn charges come on the same day that Toronto’s taxi industry met with Chief Saunders, urging him to step up enforcement against Uber. He told the media after the meeting that his officers would not pursue further charges until the current ones have been tested in court.

The response did not please cabbies, who have become increasingly angry at what they see as lenient treatment of Uber. The anger spilled over last week into mass protests that culminated with an hours-long blockade at Queen and Bay. The key downtown intersection outside city hall, on the periphery of the financial district, was closed through the evening rush hour, snarling traffic throughout the core.

The blockade finally ended after Mr. Tory asked Chief Saunders to meet with cabbie representatives. Although unhappy with his stance on further enforcement, the meeting seems to have cooled tempers, shelving talk of further protest.