Toronto takes first step to regulating Uber

A report released Wednesday recommends dropping taxi fees in Toronto and issuing new licences.

Thestar.com
Sept. 9, 2015
By David Rider

Reiterating that Uber’s popularity proves the ride-hailing service is here to stay, Mayor John Tory supports a new licensing staff report that aims to bring the unlicensed company into the city’s regulatory fold.

“Today, we’ve taken the first step forward to first bring Uber inside the law and regulate it,” Tory said Wednesday at city hall.

Staff proposals will also make it easier for traditional taxis to compete with Uber, and its UberX service, by reducing the fare people pay when entering a regular licensed cab from $4.25 to $3.25, Tory said.

However, representatives of the taxi industry said that move doesn’t come close to levelling the playing field.

“This will kill us. This report is absolutely the death of the taxi industry,” said Sam Moini, of the Toronto Taxi Alliance.

The report recommends that a new licensing category and regulatory regime be created for a Transportation Network Company, like Uber. A TNC would be issued a city licence to operate private-vehicles-for-hire while meeting certain rules that still need spelling out. The TNC is modeled after U.S. examples.

Moini said TNC regulation creates a two-tier system that gives an “outrageous advantage” to Uber over taxis when the two provide “the exact same service.”

“We need one system, one bylaw for all,” he said.

Tory said he sympathizes with the drivers. “When these kind of disruptive changes in technology take place, it is not easy for those who are involved in the industry before that happens.”

However, Tory disagreed that UberX - which pairs passengers with regular drivers through a smartphone app - offers the same service as taxis, calling them “different beasts.” He noted taxis continue to be the only vehicles passengers can hail on the street.

The “objective is to make sure, while they’re regulated in different ways, that they’re regulated equitably so they both can compete.”

Staff are seeking council’s support with a multi-step plan. It includes:

Issuing 100 new taxicab licences to the 800 drivers on a waiting list. The aim is to increase the availability of accessible cabs.

Amending bylaw definitions of taxicab, taxicab brokerage and limousine service company, to ensure Uber and its ilk are captured in the current regulatory regime.

Asking the province to confirm that Uber has insurance coverage that covers UberX drivers. Uber claims it has, but the city remains unconvinced.

Having staff consider, only when the city is satisfied that adequate insurance exists, under which rules UberX drivers have to operate.

Councillor Gord Perks said that’s when the “real battle” will take place.

“I am sure a majority of councillors will want the public safeguards (to be) the same for anyone getting into a cab,” he tweeted. “There should be safeguards around driver screening and training, vehicle inspections and certification and pricing.”

The city’s 5,000 licensed taxis provide about 65,000 rides per day, compared with 17,000 UberX rides a day, according to statistics supplied by Uber Canada.

“We recognize the need to be regulated, and Uber is fully committed to work in partnership with the City in helping adopt and implement ridesharing regulations,” Uber spokesman Xavier Van Chau wrote in email.

The report will be debated next week by the city’s licensing committee and is likely to go to council Sept. 30.