Taxi-Uber report faces uncertain future on city hall committee

Vice-chair of the city's licensing committee, an avowed Uber opponent, says staff report on Uber service and taxis faces challenging future.

Thestar.com
Sept. 10, 2015
By Betsy Powell and David Rider

Recommendations to regulate ride-booking service Uber and to legalize its private-vehicle service UberX could have a tough time getting to city council.

The vice-chair of Toronto’s licensing committee, an avowed Uber critic, told the Star that the recommendations in a staff report released this week face a “challenging” future when the committee debates them next Wednesday.

“We’re going to hear a lot of allegations and deputations that Uber is unregulated and doesn’t follow the law,” Councillor Jim Karygiannis, one of six committee members, said Thursday.

He refused to speculate on whether the committee might kill the report, which proposes a two-tier system of regulation for taxis and private-vehicles-for-hire.

“There is definitely going to be opposition and people suggesting alterations to it.”

If the committee votes to refer the report back to staff for more study, or defers its decision to a later date, the recommendations will not go to the Sept. 30 city council meeting.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, another committee member, left little doubt on his view of the report. He issued a press release Thursday calling it a “shame.”

“The report ... will only serve to give ride-sharing companies an advantage over the law-abiding, fee-paying taxicab drivers ... it seems to me like this report is the start of a nasty war.”

Councillor Glen De Baeremaeker said Thursday he is still reviewing the report but he has concerns about allowing, even with conditions, regular people driving paying customers around city streets.

“I’m struggling with the concept of letting (just) anybody drive a cab.”

That sentiment might not be unanimous on the committee. Coun. Josh Matlow, also a member, told the Star via email that he generally backed the report’s “recommendations that would allow taxis to be less expensive and more competitive while allowing innovative companies like Uber to become safe, licensed, and insured transportation options for Torontonians.”

UberX uses a smartphone application to connect passengers with drivers who do not hold city-issued taxi licences.

Since it launched one year ago, UberX now accounts for an estimated 17,000 trips a day in Toronto. A research poll done for the city found Uber “is seen as a ‘high tech,’ fast, accessible offering which provides greater affordability, control and availability of service than its alternatives.”

The taxi industry, however, feels strongly that Uber should be subject to the same regulations and restrictions as the rest of the ground transportation industry with regulated fares, vehicle standards, insurance and vehicle licences.