New taxi, Uber rules get long debate at city hall

Members of the city'slicensing and standards committee debateda contentious slate of recommendationsthat will change how taxis and the ride-hailing service Uber operate in the city.

• Toronto proposes different rules for taxis, Uber drivers

• Ubershould be regulated like taxis, Canadianssay inpoll

More than 100 speakers wereslated to appear before thecommittee on Thursday.

Thursday'smeeting wasthe first time somecouncillorswereableto ask staff about the draft regulations.The recommendations, revealed last week, would loosen the rules for the taxi industry but also allowUber and itsUberXprogram, which allows anyone to operate their personal vehicle like a cab to keep operating, albeit with some new requirements.

City staff have been working on the rules throughout the winter, which was marked by taxi protests demanding Toronto ban Uber.

Mayor John Tory voiced his support for the regulations when they were released, saying theycreate a level playing field. But he wasn't among the six councillorsquestioning staff about the new rules on Thursday.

Taxi industry representatives who spoke at the meeting said city staff missed the mark by proposing to loosen some of their rules.

Paul Sekhonof the Taxi Workers Association said if cab drivers no longer have to attend mandatory training, won't have to use snow tires and are no longer required to speak English, they will "look incompetent."

"If I was a passenger and heard that I wouldn't want to get into a cab, either," he said.

Industry spokesperson Sam Moinisaid the proposed changes would impose "a sub-par standard on our industry.

"You want to make sure they're safe," he said. "Not having proper inspections, not having proper insurance...not having cameras. These are things we innovated for years and now we're moving back the hands of time because of this company."

Other drivers saidthat while they compete with Uber, the company is forcing taxi companies to rethink how they operate.

"The ones who are fighting are old-fashioned," one driver said at city hall. "They should move to the new fashion."

'Let's deal with it'

Coun. Jim Karygiannis, a vocal opponent of Uber on council and vice chair of the committee, said Thursday that it's time for debate to conclude and for the city to decide what to do about Uber.

"This has been something that's been going around forever and ever and ever," Karygiannis told reporters at cityhall on Thursday.

"Let's deal with it. Let's make sure that we have the proper procedures in place. At the end of the day it's all about safety."

Karygiannis has put forward several amendments to the proposed regulations designed to, as he said, level the playing field for taxis and Uber. He is calling for Ubercars to have cameras, as taxis do, as well as snow tires. He also wants an end to surge pricing, when Uberhikes its rates during storms and other events that lead to a high demand for its service, and wants all cars to have proper taxi plates.

Karygiannis also wants the city to have oversight of the Uberfleet, meaning the vehicleswould be required to go to a city garage for inspection twice a year.

One councillorwho doesn't sit on the committee said sheexpects the regulations to change before the entire city council gets to vote on them on May 3-4.

"I can assure you it will not come out the other end in the form it's in,"Coun. Janet Davis told CBC Radio's Metro Morning last week.

Here's a look at some of the highlights from the report, which you can read in full here:

Fares:

• Taxi brokers can offer discounts to people who call or use their mobile orinternetapplications to hail cabs.
• Fares will not change for people who hail cabs on the street or who use taxi stands.
• There was no mention of curtailingUber'ssurge pricing.

Mechanical inspections:

• Any 4-door vehicle less than seven years old can be used as a taxi, a limousine or an Uber car.
• Taxis: still required to get semi-annual inspections at city-run garages.
• Uber: required to get annual inspections at any garage in the city that meets the city's requirements.
• The city is recommending that it undertake a separate review that would look into the feasibility of allowing taxis to get their vehicles inspected at any garage in the city that meets the city's requirements.
• Taxis will not be required to install snow tires every winter.

Licences:

• Replace the existing taxi and limousine driver licence classes and createa "vehicle-for-hire" licence for Uber and limousine drivers.
• Changes to ambassador taxis, Toronto taxis and wheelchair-accessible taxis, which includes changes that would come into play whenselling and owning the vehicles.
• Taxi drivers must pay a yearly $290 fee for their licence.
• Uber drivers must pay a yearly $10 fee for their licence, but 20 cents per trip will be paid to the city.

Background checks:

• Require criminal backgroundchecks for all drivers.
• Checks on Uber drivers must be done by Uber, and the city said it would audit the company to make sure it is completing the checks successfully.

Insurance:

• Cabs are currently required to carry $2 million in collision and passenger hazard insurance Uber drivers will be required to do the same.
• Uber drivers willalso be required to carry $5 million of commercial general liability insurance.

Accessibility:

• Increase accessible taxi fleet by 25 per cent by 2021 by issuinglicencesto drivers on the wait list (this could be up to 200 more vehicles).
• Waive licence application and licence renewal fees for accessible cabs, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2016.
• Waive training fees for drivers of accessible cabs.
• IncentivizeUberdrivers by requiring non-accessible cabs to pay a fee and ensure that accessible vehicles have comparable wait times to accessible vehicles from taxi services.
• All vehicle-for-hire (Uber) drivers complete a training program.