Cab drivers set to protest at city hall as committee meets to discuss Uber regulations

CP24.com
Sept. 16, 2015
By Codi Wilson

Cab drivers are set to protest outside city hall this morning as the Licensing and Standards Committee meets to discuss proposed recommendations to regulate ride-hailing app Uber.

Details of the protest were published on the website of the Toronto Taxi Alliance, which is slamming a report by city staff that recommends creating a separate licensing category specifically for Uber.

The report was drafted in response to complaints that Uber was putting passenger safety at risk and had an unfair competitive advantage because it is not forced to follow the same regulations as traditional cabs in the city.

As part of the proposed new licensing category, referred to as the Transportation Network Companies, UberX drivers would be required to obtain commercial liability insurance, pay annual permit fees and consent to background checks.

Many cab drivers, however, say they are not satisfied with a two-tier licensing system.

"If adopted by Council, these recommendations will spell the end of Toronto's taxi industry as we know it," president of iTaxi Workers Sajid Mughal said in a written statement issued shortly after the report was released last week.

Speaking to CP24 Wednesday morning, Mayor John Tory defended the recommendations in the report.

"I have great sympathy for the plight of taxi drivers and others in the business because their business is being changed by technology," Tory said outside city hall.

"Our job is to bring Uber into regulation, bring it under the law, which we are doing and to reduce the regulatory burden on taxis, which we are doing ... I know there are people out there who think it would be better if Uber just went away or we tried to ban them but I pose the question to people - how do you think we could ban Uber when 300,000 people use it?"

The protest is set to begin at 9:15 a.m. ahead of the morning committee meeting.