Uber could leave Toronto if council makes it impossible to operate

Torontosun.com
Sept. 25, 2015
By Don Peat

Uber admits next week’s council vote could drive it out of Toronto.

In an editorial board meeting with the Toronto Sun on Friday, representatives from Uber acknowledged the looming council vote could lead to the ride-sharing company deciding to leave town. But they were “confident” they have the council support to win the day.

Council votes next week on whether or not to change the city’s rules to create a path for Uber to operate within municipal regulations.

Licensing staff have recommended council give them the green light to create a new licence for “transportation network companies” (TNC) that would apply to companies like UberX. The TNC’s would be licensed with the city and be permitted to provide private vehicle rides provided they meet several conditions including proof of insurance. But the city’s taxi-friendly licensing committee voted to nix the staff recommendations and only approved the changes that could allow the city to totally outlaw the company. Council could end up either rubber-stamping the licensing committee vote or choosing to endorse the original staff recommendations.

Andrew Macdonald, Uber’s regional general manager, admitted the council vote - if it went against Uber - could force the company to leave town despite its success in Toronto. “I think under a scenario where action against Uber is taken and rules are implemented that we can’t comply with such as putting Uber under a set of bylaws designed for taxis 30 years ago, we can’t operate under that scenario,” Macdonald said.

“That’s why it is really key that council takes the action that we need.

“If (council) bring (Uber) under the regulatory framework that does not work for our business model, we will not be able to operate in Toronto.”

Even if council does approve the changes that allow Uber to stay in the city, the final fix could be months or even years away. That won’t stop Uber from continuing.

“We’ll continue operating,” Macdonald said. “We’ll continue running a very cheap, safe, reliable service that people in Toronto love and we’ll work with the city to flush out those rules.”

And if council opts to take no action at all? Uber would also continue to operate in the city, he said.

Chris Schafer, Uber Canada’s public policy manager, said they were “hopeful” council would create a regulatory framework for ride-sharing.

“If this is immensely popular, if it is providing a host of benefits ... then you can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” Schafer said. “Better for the city to have regulatory oversight. Whether everyone likes it or not, Uber and ride-sharing is an opportunity presented to cities in Canada to say, ‘Hey look, there is a different way to do things.’”

What’s Uber’s ultimate goal?

“The reality is people in Toronto think we compete with taxis - that’s not the story for our company, that’s not what we’re talking about every week at our global meetings,” Andrew Macdonald, Uber’s regional general manager, told the Toronto Sun’s editorial board on Friday. “We want to replace car ownership and that is truly the vision for this product.”

Macdonald said the only way that can be accomplished if the price of an Uber ride is “competitive with the cost of operating a car.

“We want to take cars off the road and the only way you do that is by becoming competitive with car ownership,” he said. “We are competing with car ownership.”