Toronto proposes different rules for taxis, Uber drivers

Toronto�s sellout to Uber takes us back to the days of bandit taxis: James

New regime for Uber drivers frees them from rules about driver training, snow tires, strict inspections and price-gouging.

By: Royson James Toronto Politics Columnist, Published on Thu Apr 07 2016

Once upon a time, bandit taxis roamed Toronto streets in unsafe, unregulated vehicles.
The modern taxi bandit is back. Officially. With city imprimatur. Disguised as a respectable, benign, mayor-backed, citizen-loved, warm and fuzzy transportation service.
Increasingly, Uber drivers have been offering competing taxi service � unencumbered by the very regulations that ended the old bandits; cheaper, too; and very attractive to the app-addled populace hinged to cashless smartphone transactions.

And, on Thursday, a Toronto staff report sanctioned and enhanced Uber�s existence � even as staff claimed its recommendations create a new regime that is fair and equitable to the legal taxis that the city created through regulation in place for decades.
Don�t buy the propaganda.

And be especially skeptical as a parade of city councillors, spurred on by the mayor, roll out cynical endorsements of the new rules. In fact, the recommendations would compromise public safety and threaten the very viability of the cab industry the city created.
Barring an unexpected public backlash, these rules will pass at city council before the next heat wave. The mayor signaled this from the outset. People prominent in his election campaign have turned Uber lobbyists. Go figure.

The new rules are an effective sellout of the taxi industry � not that the majority of the populace care when the public�s reflex motivation is cheaper fares. Asked how the recommendations are not an utter capitulation to Uber, licensing director Tracey Cook said they were not. So there.

Judge for yourself.

Taxi drivers must still pay $290 to get a licence and pay a $290 annual licensing fee. Uber�s is covered by a one-time $20,000 fee to the company for all drivers (current numbers stand at 15,000 drivers) and $10 per driver employed by the company, plus a fee of 20 cents per ride.

Councillor Jim Karygiannis puts it this way: The city collects $8 million from 5,000 cabbies now. If Toronto applied the same fee rate to the 15,000 Uber drivers, the haul would be $24 million. Instead, the city will collect only $3.5 million because of the lower Uber fees.

Taxi drivers would continue to be screened by the city and monitored for criminal background and driver record. Uber would be allowed to monitor its own drivers and disclose their record only if audited.

Taxis must go through two city-run mechanical inspections a year. Uber cars are to meet safety standards, but the Uber safety certificate can come from any licensed mechanic. We know how that works.

Nothing more clearly underscores the abeyance to Uber than these two simple matters: snow tires and driver training.

Have we not been hearing how important snow tires are � to the point that some advocate the province should make them mandatory? The city made them mandatory for taxis, until now.

Toronto doesn�t want to impose this on Uber drivers, so safety be damned. Taxis? Just forget the snow tires.

Taxi drivers must go through mandatory training so when they hit the streets they are good ambassadors and know the city. (If they fall short now, blame the taxi school.) Such training sounds like a good thing. But, oops, we don�t want to impose that on Uber drivers, so let�s scrap it altogether. How is that good for citizens?

There is more.

Surge pricing is among Uber�s most odious practices, because it gouges citizens with higher fares at precisely the time they are most vulnerable. Taxis are not allowed to impose higher fares when demand is higher. So, does the city propose the same rules on Uber?

That would suggest a leveling of the playing field, so no. Uber can continue to charge what it wants when it wants. Taxis? They can charge less than the going meter rate for trips booked online or on the phone, They can�t impose surge pricing. And they must charge the meter rate when hailed on the street.

Yes, we know the new technology isn�t going away. But don�t try to insult our intelligence by saying these are laudable proposals.

The reforms leave us with cars that are less safe, drivers with poorer training, the gutting of the plan to make all cars accessible, an extra 1,000 cabs that will further damage the value of cabbies� investment and destroy the viability of the business model, a flood of new Uber cars for hire that will only lead to a plethora of part-time drivers and not enough money in the industry to sustain it.

In other words, they just killed the cab industry.

A new entity will evolve, no doubt. Wanna bet that the millionaires who now run the industry will be replaced by a billionaire or two? And the money will fly away, offshore.
Then we will see if fares remain low.

Royson James usually appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Email: [email protected]