about safety?

A terrible, 

terrible year… page 2 

Who cares 

about safety? page 3 

More half-baked 

regulation… page 7 

Free 

Publications Mail 

Registration No. 

40050017 

Editorial, page 6 

January 2017 Vol. 32 No. 1 

Who cares 

about safety? 

As of December 31, 2016, the City of 

Toronto has served notice it will no longer 

be responsible for conducting the semiannual 

mechanical fitness testing of 

taxicabs that has long been a respected 

feature of the City’s once stringent 

regulatory regime. Sadly, this is just the 

latest initiative in the City’s hell-bent and 

ill-advised race to deregulate the vehicle 

for hire industry. 

Editorial, page 6 

CoverCAB 

This month’s Cover Cab is longstanding veteran Ezekiel 

Falolu Tokunboh. When Tokunboh started driving in 1977, 

he remembers the drop on the meter was 60 cents. He’s 

very disappointed how the City has been regulating his 

industry, starting in 1998 when the City launched its two tier 

taxi system that denied plate ownership for Ambassadors. 

And then came Uber X…

2 January 2017 

As ‘terrible, terrible year’ draws to a close, 

a desperate industry looks for answers 

LAWYER 

Tyrone Crawford, b.a., m.ed.,ll.b. 

Taxi Plate Sales 

Taxi Plate Purchases 

Taxi Tribunal Hearings 

Criminal Charges 

Traffic Tickets 

Incorporations 

House Sales 

by Mike Beggs 

2016 is likely to be remembered 

as another year from 

hell for Toronto taxi operators 

– a sentiment certainly 

shared by cab drivers across the 

GTA and beyond. 

That brutal assessment comes 

thanks to the wave of lawmakers 

who have gone out of their way to 

accommodate the much-maligned 

but apparently unstoppable Uber 

X service under its own separate 

licensing category (Transportation 

Network Companies) – granting 

them unlimited entry of vehicles, 

along with significantly relaxed 

regulations for driver training and 

screening, vehicle standards, insurance, 

etc. 

Previously inundated with 

15,000-plus vehicles operating 

outside the bylaw, the Toronto taxi 

industry is now forced to contend 

with a growing fleet of more than 

20,000 Uber X cars, all of which 

Toronto Municipal Licensing & 

Standards reports have been properly 

screened, inspected, and insured. 

“It has been a terrible year, just 

terrible,” says Lucky 7 Taxi owner 

Lawrence Eisenberg. “And it’s not 

looking good for the new year.” 

He alleges by allowing Uber X 

in under its own category, the City 

has “screwed” the taxi industry, 

and Uber is “absolutely killing 

us.” 

That pain is being felt across the 

industry: by long-time owners like 

himself who believe the City has 

reneged on a longstanding “social 

contract” wiping out their plate 

values and retirement income: 

shift drivers and lessees who have 

seen their earnings plummet to alltime 

lows; garages and brokerages 

who depend on a healthy industry 

for their livelihoods. 

Mohammed “Reza” Hosseinioun, 

a director of the iTaxiworkers 

Association says he has never seen 

it so bad. 

“I don’t know what happens 

after Christmas. This is unbelievable,” 

he tells Taxi News. “Now, 

more than 50 percent of our business 

is gone. There’s no flag business 

anymore. Those guys who 

used to cruise are sitting on taxi 

stands. 

“Nowadays, you can’t believe it, 

some taxi drivers are working 16 

hours a day. I used to take a day 

off, now I’m working seven days 

a week. There’s no such thing as a 

family life.” 

Many veteran industry leaders 

claim the City has long used their 

industry as a licensing cash cow, 

and is now doing the same by licensing 

an unlimited number of 

Uber X cars (reportedly generating 

revenues for the City of upwards 

of $500,000 a month, or $6 million 

a year, from the fee paid by Uber 

on every fare). 

Long-time owner operator Gerry 

Manley has been leading the 

industry battle for fairness at the 

hands of the City of Toronto. He 

says the new bylaw is “riddled 

with illegalities, errors, and indiscretions”; 

and he is among those 

to suggest the licensing of Uber X 

falls in line with the City’s longterm 

“hidden agenda” to deregulate 

the licensed cab industry. In 

protest, Manley is withholding the 

new $130 Driver’s Fee slapped on 

taxi owners, along with his 2017 

renewal fee. 

He says the City needs to shelve 

House Purchases 

Mortgages 

Wills and Power 

of Attorney’s 

Notaries 

Promissory Notes 

TELEPHONE: 416-760-8118 

CELL: 416-827-1611 

FAX: 416-760-8175 

4945 DUNDAS STREET WEST, TORONTO, ON M9A 1B6 

between Kipling and Islington 

the bylaw in its entirely and start 

over, and after little or no response 

to his appeals, Manley has reached 

out to the Minister of Municipal 

Affairs & Housing, claiming the 

new bylaw, “has all but destroyed 

many decades of hard work and 

sacrifice by our entire membership.” 

He wants the Ministry to 

become involved in setting a bylaw, 

“that deals fairly with all the 

people involved in the Drive For 

Hire industry.” 

So far, that correspondence has 

gone unanswered by the City and 

the province. 

However, in December, Manley 

had a brief conversation with 

Councillor Cesar Palacio, chair of 

the Licensing & Standards Committee, 

who promised he would 

respond to Manley’s “lengthy correspondence.” 

“We will see whether he gets me 

answers from staff,” he says. “It 

has been seven months.” 

Although hasn’t had the opportunity 

to examine the new bylaw 

in detail, long-time Toronto owner/operator 

Al Moore says, “It certainly 

hasn’t leveled the playing 

field. It’s not level by any stretch,” 

he comments. 

“They’re all following Toronto. 

(In Mississauga, Mayor Bonnie 

Crombie), she’s just following 

suit. They’re doing what Toronto 

did, and they want to make sure 

they have it right, so they don’t 

upset Uber.” 

Hosseinioun brands the present 

situation “total nonsense”, with 

the MLS offering “no answers” to 

taxi industry inquiries. 

Now basically self-regulated, 

he alleges, “Uber is going to the 

Commission with what is good, 

and what is bad for them. They are 

telling (the City) what to do. 

“Why do we have a two-tier system 

here?” he asks. “What is the 

difference between us and them? 

The Uber drivers are carrying passengers 

for compensation.” 

Manley suggests the whole 

question of the bylaw’s legality 

boils down to one critical point. 

“You can’t sub-delegate authority, 

unless it says so in the City of Toronto 

Act, and there’s no mention 

of that in COTA. They’ve sub-delegated 

their authority to a private 

company. That is illegal.” 

Among the major issues industry 

is kicking up about is the abolition 

of the long-running MLS 

driver training course, and MLS 

Vehicle Inspection Centre on Eastern 

Avenue – which critics say will 

significantly compromise the level 

of customer service and safety. 

Similarly, in Hamilton, veteran 

owner/operator Hans Wienhold 

cites the recent experience of one 

taxi owner who was subjected to 

a mandatory City of Hamilton taxi 

inspection, and told he must replace 

his vehicle -- even though 

it had another year of useful life 

under that city’s six-year bylaw 

limitation. 

“The reason?” he asks. “Because 

the ‘check engine’ light was glowing 

on the dash, and even after the 

owner had had the issue resolved 

by a mechanic, he was still forced 

to replace the vehicle.” 

By contrast, he notes that not 

one Uber car has undergone a similar 

inspection to date. 

“You would have thought that, 

given the City of Hamilton’s disgusting 

abeyance of Hamilton’s 

taxicab regulations in order to accommodate 

the Uber corporation, 

they would have, at least, eased up 

on their heavy-handed treatment 

of the incumbent taxi operators,” 

he says on his Block Rants blog. 

“You’d have thought wrong… 

They relentlessly harass the incumbent 

operators, while giving 

Uber a free pass.” 

Wienhold is among those who 

maintain that Uber’s much-praised 

“business model” is not sustainable, 

and will result in misery and 

disaster for all drivers – cabbies 

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and Uber X drivers alike. (Manley 

suggests many such drivers may 

well end up on the welfare rolls). 

“Uber is not about technology 

and it is not about a free market 

revolution, it’s about corporate 

manipulation of the taxi business 

via a broken political system,” he 

alleges. 

“The Uber corporation will continue 

to extract its 25 percent commission 

from the taxi-using public, 

regardless of whether there is 

a 10 percent surplus of cab drivers, 

or a 2,000 per cent surplus of cab 

drivers,” he adds. 

Pointing to the recent complaints 

from Uber drivers in Toronto, 

Eisenberg agrees stating, 

“Once they came in, (Uber) increased 

their prices for everything. 

Those (Uber X drivers) who do the 

work for them know they’re going 

to get screwed. They just do it. 

Surprise, surprise.” 

Mississauga plate owner Peter 

Pellier says it has been proven 

time and time again, that, “the 

open entry model cannot work in 

the ground transportation industry”. 

He says “the only encouraging 

news” at the moment, is that 

some Uber drivers in Canada and 

the U.S. are complaining about 

their rate of pay – given the huge 

number of drivers, and Uber’s 25 

percent fee off the top. 

“(Under) the Uber model, the 

Uber guys aren’t making money. 

So this is going to backfire for 

Uber all over the world,” he suggests. 

“But does Uber care,” he continues. 

“They want their share of the 

autonomous vehicle market when 

it really solidifies. That’s what 

they’re really after. There will be 

self-driving cars available in every 

neighbourhood for short, medium 

and long range fares, so they’re 

building their (client base) through 

Uber X.” 

Hosseinioun claims the riding 

public is slowly realizing what is 

happening to Toronto’s ground 

transportation market under the 

new bylaw, and that, “They’re 

now sending e-mails, and calling 

our councillors saying, ‘This is not 

right.’” 

Of the service provided by Uber 

X drivers, he observes, “The first 

thing they do is GPS. The customer 

has to sit in the car for five 

minutes, while the driver finds his 

way.” 

But where do Toronto’s taxi operators 

turn now in their fight to 

stay afloat? 

There has been talk of further 

driver demonstrations, court 

action, and calls for financial 

• see page 9

Shutting down City-run vehicle 

inspections sure to prove a big 

mistake, warn critics 

by Mike Beggs 

Of all the questionable 

regulatory changes by 

the City of Toronto in 

its unswerving determination to 

license Uber X, the sudden closure 

of the long-running Vehicle 

Inspection Centre at 843 Eastern 

Avenue ranks among the most 

objectionable of all, according 

to licensed taxi operators. 

According to an Important 

Notice To All Taxicab Owners 

released by Toronto Municipal 

Licensing and Standards on December 

9, “As of December 31, 

2016, you are no longer required 

to submit your vehicle for inspection 

by staff at 843 Eastern Avenue, 

however a mechanical Safety 

Standards Certificate (SSC) must 

be submitted to the Licensing Services 

office at the East York Civic 

Centre.” 

The MLS specifies that, “Safety 

Standards Certificates are only valid 

when issued by a Motor Vehicle 

Inspection Station (MVIS) garage 

It’s a race to 

the bottom… 

They may be 

destroying the 

taxi industry 

completely. It’s 

so pathetic. You 

build a building 

brick by brick. 

Then the Mayor 

tears everything 

down. You don’t 

need driver 

training. You 

don’t need DOT’s. 

operation licensed by the Ontario 

Ministry of Transportation, and 

cannot be more than 36 days old at 

the time of submission.” 

Requirements regarding the 

mandatory submission of SSC’s 

will be posted on the MLS web 

site in the new year at www.toronto.ca/vehicle 

inspections. 

Rundown taxis were a sore point 

for many years, before the City 

imposed its semi-annual inspections 

at the Eastern Avenue facility, 

some two decades back. And 

now industry leaders fear this will 

devolve into “a race to the bottom” 

with Uber X operators, with the 

return to the requirement of just a 

Safety Standards Certificate from 

any licensed garage. 

“They are turning back the 

clock,” complains Beck Taxi operations 

manager Kristine Hubbard. 

“History is repeating itself. We’ve 

been there before. There used to 

be Safety Standards Certificates, 

and they weren’t good enough. 

(The MLS) found some that were 

photocopied, and others that were 

fake.” 

“Absolutely (it’s a race to the 

bottom),” agrees iTaxiworkers 

Association president Sajid Mughal. 

“What they’re aiming for 

is, by lowering the quality of taxi 

service, to accommodate Private 

Transportation Companies. Those 

politicians making all these bylaws 

over the last 30 or 40 years, 

they were all crazy?” 

“They may be destroying the 

taxi industry completely,” he explains. 

“It’s so pathetic. You build 

a building brick by brick. The 

Mayor tears everything down. You 

don’t need driver training. You 

don’t need DOT’s.” 

Hubbard stresses this news was 

delivered just three weeks before 

the facility’s shutdown -- giving 

the industry, “virtually no time to 

adjust to the changes”. What’s 

more it came with cabbies in the 

midst of their Christmas season 

rush, and dealing with winter driving 

conditions. 

“As far as I know, no one in the 

taxi industry was consulted about 

the changes,” she adds. 

To this suggestion, MLS executive 

director Tracey Cook responds, 

“On May 3, 2016, City 

Council made a series of decisions 

related to taxicab, limousine, and 

Private Transportation Company 

(PTC) regulations. As part of this 

decision, City Council authorized 

that an Alternate Vehicle Inspection 

Program be developed for 

taxicabs, limousines, and PTC vehicles.” 

Hubbard maintains taxi operators 

were, “happy to go through 

the (DOT) inspections, and nobody 

in the industry asked for this. 

“(The inspections) made us all 

feel better. There was a higher level 

of confidence in the cars,” she 

explains. “Having the City do inspections 

allowed for control and 

accountability.” 

She notes the staff who worked 

at the Eastern Avenue facility, 

“knew exactly what to look for 

with taxis.” 

Lucky 7 Taxi owner Lawrence 

Eisenberg was left scratching his 

head about this latest news, coming 

on the heels of last summer’s 

implementation of the contentious 

Vehicle-For-Hire bylaw. 

“I think it’s crazy,” he says. 

“First, (vehicle safety) was a big 

deal, and now nothing. They’re 

putting everybody at risk, the drivers 

and the public. I don’t know 

what they’re doing. 

“But we’re going to find out 

fast enough – when, unfortunately, 

something bad happens.” 

Eisenberg also, “still can’t believe” 

the City abolished its driver 

training course. 

“For years and years, that was 

their main thing,” he adds. “It went 

from three days, to two weeks. 

Now, nothing. I don’t get it.” 

Veteran owner/operator Gerry 

Manley declares the closing of the 

MLS vehicle inspection centre, “a 

big, big mistake on a number of 

fronts.” 

“Whatever happened to consumer 

and driver protection, 

which the City has always stated 

was the primary goal in their rationale 

of having vehicles inspected 

and checked?” he wonders. 

“With no other plan in place at 

the present time, how will the City 

ensure that the vehicles are safe 

and roadworthy? Everyone knows, 

for a few dollars you can always 

find a mechanic willing to give 

you a vehicle mechanical safety 

certificate without even checking 

the taxicab.” 

On July 1, 2016, the Ministry 

of Transportation implemented 

tougher standards for Safety Inspections, 

which he says have increased 

the cost substantially, to 

$150 to $200. Taxi, limo, and PTC 

owners are required to go through 

this process twice a year. 

“It’s a much more in-depth program,” 

he explains. “It’s more like 

a commercial vehicle check. They 

have to go through a two-page report. 

It’s very, very transparent. 

“So the question is, are these 

costs going to be taken off the 


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owners’ annual licensing fees, 

since the inspections at Eastern 

Avenue were included in those renewal 

costs?” he asks. 

Hubbard makes it clear the public 

did not pay for the DOT’s at 

Eastern Avenue. 

“Under the City’s cost recovery 

policy, they were paid for by the 

industry,” she reminds. “So, any 

suggestion that the public purse 

will be better off (with the shutdown 

of the MLS inspection facility) 

is simply not true.” 

Manley is equally perturbed that 

in-car security cameras are also no 

longer being inspected, and meters 

are no longer being sealed, under 

the new rules. He was the driving 

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DRIVER OF THE MONTH 

EFREM FSSAHAYE 

Beck Taxi would like to congratulate 

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A customer took the time to let us know about the wonderful 

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that she has broken ribs, and is not able to do a lot of moving 

or lifting due to that. The customer was travelling with 

2 heavy bags, and was unable to lift them. She said that 

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bags. Efrem was driving a van cab and got out to take out 

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Honourable Mentions 

Ahmed Ma’alin 

Farah, Khadir Daud 

Ramashkumar Manickam 

Ahmed, Murad Abdulahi 

Aamir Sajjad 

Iyinolakan Olawale 

Kazeem 

Khan, Feroz Shah 

Abdul Ahmed 

Iqbal, Shahid 

Hussain Altaf 

Afzal Mohammad 

Gared, Zewdu 

Bahita, Dawit Hafteslas 

Sherif, Abdi Ahmed 

Mohammed Ashfaq 

Popal Salim 

Omar Abdi Aziz 

Waqar Hameed Chaudhry 

Thambipllai Pathmarupan 

Chaci, Ali 

Fazalahmed Popal 

Malik Azhar Mehmood 

Preetinder Singh 

Lakhanpal 

Dalbir Sandhu 

Durrani Salman Akhter 

Waqar Hameed Chaudhry 

Kullar, Charanjit Singh 

Wali, Ghulam 

Mussana Bin Hamayun 

Abel Fekadu Shibeshi 

Raja, Parvaiz 

Mian Sohail 

Ahmed Rashid Patel 

Abdul Naghshbandi 

Iqbal, Haroon 

Ahmed Iskander Abdosh 

Khurram, Ghias 

Baffour Ababio 

Hagos Fsehaye 

Singh, Jaswinder 

Kanesu, Thayaparan 

Kashif Muhammad Mehdi 

Gejza Cepela 

Charanjeet Singh 

Johnson Randolph George 

Aman, Said Tahir 

Mohammad Cheema Nasir 

Mehmood Asif 

Chekol Adinew 

Tariq Muhammad 

Khan, Zafar 

Mohmoud Mohmmed 

Mohammad Noor 

Sivasamy, Thiruvarulselvan 

Warfa Salah Ahmed 

Ali, Md Yunus 

Dhondup, Dorjee 

Ahmed Rashid Patel 

Wali Amrudin 

Abebe Micheal Worku 

Abdi Abdiasis Ahmed 

Alauddin Al-Amin 

Shanmuganathan, 

Shiyamsunthar 

becktaxi.com 

Satkunalingam 

Satkunanathan 

Khattack, Faheem 

Ali-Mirsalari Ebrahim 

Malikzai, Abdul Walid 

Bajwa, Mashhood Ahmad 

Arshad, Muhammad 

Tahseen, Rana Adnan 

Khadim Irfan 

Ali Asghar 

Narimany, Farshid 

Tipu Saheed 

Mohamoud, Harun 

Mohamed 

Frimpong Manso Yaw 

Mohammed Abdullahi 

Shaikh Azhar 

Imran, Faisal 

Abebe Micheal Worku 

Kwame Kyere 

Habteselasse Mitiku 

Shahid Farooq 

Igbonekwu, Michael 

Nyack Neambhard 

Daniel Medja 

Rahman, Syed Mashfiqur 

Rana, Muhammad Umair 

Ahmad, Waqar 

Bahita, Dawit Hafteslas 

Rajan Sharma 

Sahi, Mubashir Ahmed 

Oakville bows to Uber 

wave of municipal 

compliance 

Oakville Mayor Rob Burton 

by Mike Beggs 

Following the lead of Toronto 

and several other 

Canadian municipalities, 

the Town of Oakville has decided 

to welcome Uber X into its 

taxi bylaw. 

Despite the vehement protestations 

of licensed operators, a 

draft bylaw laying out a separate 

licensing category for Transportation 

Network Companies (TNC’s) 

like Uber X, passed unanimously 

through Oakville’s Administrative 

Services Committee (ASC) on December 

5, and Oakville Council 

one week later. 

In putting forward the motion, 

Mayor Rob Burton observed that 

the City has “wrestled with” taxi 

industry problems for many years, 

and that in the face of Uber’s 

worldwide popularity, “technology 

marches on, and the taxi industry 

has to find ways to compete.” 

Central to the crafting of the 

new bylaw was the knowledge 

that Uber has operated outside of 

the law in many cities but the authorities 

have largely been unable 

to crack down on them. 

“There was no enforcement before, 

and until we have a bylaw 

we won’t have enforcement,” explained 

Jim Barry, Oakville manager 

of bylaw services. “(In this 

new bylaw) we have built in the 

ability for officers to take ghost 

rides.” 

The new bylaw proposes TNC 

licensing fees of: $786 per year for 

1 to 24 vehicles; $854 for 25 to 99 

vehicles; and for companies with 

100-plus vehicles a fee of $50,000 

per year, plus 11 cents per trip for 

all fares initiated in Oakville. 

There will be no Vehicle Supply 

Cap, no Surge Pricing Cap, and 

lower standards on driver screening, 

vehicle inspections, and age 

restrictions. 

Staff was also instructed to report 

back by June of 2017 with 

recommended changes to the taxi 

bylaw that can be implemented 

quickly, “to promote fair and balanced 

treatment of the ride-selling 

market.” 

However, in the eyes of Toronto 

cab operators who were similarly 

promised “fair and balanced treatment”, 

there is little fairness to be 

found in any regulatory regime 

that allows Uber X to play by its 

own rules. Toronto taxi operators 

cite many inequities under their 

City’s new vehicle-for-hire bylaw. 

And, according to Oakville cab 

driver Rachel Har, their new rules, 

similarly, clearly tip the balance 

in favour of TNC’s. She alleged 

the Town of Oakville has paid the 

industry, “nothing but lip service” 

about fairness and equity. 

“In the last two years we’ve lost 

40 percent of our business. Which 

of you can afford to support your 

family with 40 percent less income?” 

she asked Oakville councillors 

at the ASC meeting. 

Har stressed that, unlike licensed 

cab operators, no Uber drivers are 

purchasing the $55,000-plus modified 

vans for carrying the disabled 

community -- despite the rapidly 

aging population demographic. 

“I can’t see any Uber driver going 

for that,” she said. “Once you 

put us out of business -- which you 

are going to do, make no mistake 

-- who is going to be transporting 

them?” she asked. 

Driving for more than 40 years, 

Sleiman Haddad stated, “I’ve 

always abided by the rules that 

govern us. We are not being fairly 

treated. We feel we’ve been betrayed 

by the system. I pay close 

to $2,000 in renewals. Is that a 

fair ground for us, compared with 

them?” 

Veteran owner/operator James 

Bolan noted that, over the years 

Oakville has lowered the plateto-person 

ratio from 1 to 2,800, to 

1 to 1,300 – and now has granted 

Uber unlimited entry into the market. 

He questioned the staff recommendation 

that Uber drivers be 

allowed eight demerit points. And 

on the dropping of driver training 

by the Town, he warned, “GPS is 

not the be all and end all.” 

“And for us, we have to put a car 

on the road at four years, Uber, it’s 

seven years. That’s a huge difference,” 

he added. 

Bolan also pointed to the Aviva 

insurance policy available to Uber 

X drivers, which only covers them 

for up to 20 hours on the road. 

“What happens if you get to 22 

hours that week, then something 

happens?” he asked. “Even if you 

have full-time insurance, the app 


Staff was instructed 

to report back 

with recommended 

changes to the taxi 

bylaw that can 

be implemented 

quickly to promote 

fair and balanced 

treatment of the 

ride-selling market.

City should exempt taxi industry from 

road tolls, say critics of new Tory plan 

by Mike Beggs 

The recently approved road tolls 

on the Gardiner Expressway, and 

Don Valley Parkway will be not 

only another annoying expense for 

suburban commuters, but, potentially, 

one more dagger in the side 

of Toronto taxi drivers courtesy of 

Mayor John Tory. 

After a drawn-out debate on December 

13, Council approved the 

Mayor’s controversial motion by a 

32-9 count. Three days later Council 

voted 32-4 to go ahead with a 

$3.2 billion rehabilitation plan for 

the Gardiner, approved earlier this 

year. 

Pricing is still to be determined, 

but a staff report projected that a 

$2 per trip toll would rake in $200 

million per year in revenues for 

the City, with a proposed startup of 

$100 million, and annual operating 

costs of $70 million. A staff report 

from September of 2015 proposed 

a flat fee of $1.25 to $3.25, or that 

the roads could adopt a distancebased 

system where drivers pay 

between 10 to 35 cents per km. 

traveled. 

According to staff, an estimated 

110,000 drivers use the DVP north 

of Bayview/Bloor, and 228,000 

drivers use the Gardiner east of 

Highway 427, every day. And, 40 

percent of drivers who travel the 

DVP and Gardiner come from outside 

the city. 

Reversing his position from the 

2014 mayoral campaign, Tory advocated 

that toll highways have 

become a necessity to, “tame the 

traffic beast.” 

“I believe traffic is at a crisis – 

and we have to fix traffic by building 

transit,” he stated. 

“Tolls are paid in cities around 

the world, places many of us have 

visited -- and have been shown to 

reduce travel times and ease congestion, 

as they encourage people 

to take transit.” 

Toronto must still receive permission 

from the province to implement 

the tolls. Transport Minister 

Steven Del Duca stated, “If 

the Mayor and the City want to 

implement tolling on City-owned 

highways that would be their decision, 

and they would need to have 

public buy-in.” 

He also acknowledged, “how 

important it is to relieve congestion 

in Toronto, for residents and 

commuters.” But he vowed the 

Province will not impose tolls on 

Ontario’s 400 series highways. 

Tory said the money raised 

through tolls would go into a separate 

fund, earmarked to address 

CREDIT 

+ 10¢ per credit transaction 

DEBIT 

per debit transaction 

$33 billion worth of unfunded 

transit, and infrastructure projects, 

and to be audited annually. 

The tolls were slammed by Progressive 

Conservative leader Patrick 

Brown, NDP leader Andrea 

Horwath, and the taxi industry 

(now facing the prospect of paying 

tolls all day, going back and forth 

from the downtown). 

“Road tolls, it’s just another 

cash grab,” says Sajid Mughal, 

president of the iTaxiworkers Association. 

“And it’s going to hurt 

the cab industry even more.” 

He notes the added cost, due to 

stopping at the tolls, will ultimately 

be passed on to the customer – 

with a typical $55 airport run, now 

coming to about $60 on the meter. 

And he questioned why a mayor 

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so strongly behind public transit 

has added to traffic congestion, by 

pushing for open entry for Uber X 

vehicles, under the new Vehicle- 

For-Hire bylaw (with some 20,000 

PTC vehicles now registered and 

cruising the streets)? 

“That $2 per car is not going to 

stay at $2 per car, like with 407 

tolls. As soon as they can increase 

it, they will,” warns Toronto Taxi 

Alliance executive director Rita 

Smith. 

“(And), we’re suspicious 

whether that money will actually 

go to improve transit. It may go to 

reserves.” 

And further to the point, with a 

3.2 percent property tax hike still 

on the table, she fears cab drivers, 

“are going to get hit twice.” 

In his vocal opposition to the 

tolls, Brown stated, “The last thing 

we need is to make life more unaffordable 

in Ontario.” 

“I certainly wouldn’t support 

tolling the DVP and the Gardiner,” 

he said. “To make people pay for 

the infrastructure they already paid 

for, it seems unreasonable.” 

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti 

launched his own campaign 

against the tolls. 

“What they’re trying to do is 

grab money from the same old 

people all the time. These highways 

have already been paid for,” 

he told CP 24. 

Mammoliti argued that the 

Province should, once again, take 

responsibility for TTC funding 

and operations, through Metrolinx, 

suggesting it could save the 

City $600 million per year. 

Ward 7 Councillor Stephen 

Holyday warned consumers, 

“Hang on to your wallet, because 


you’re about to get robbed with 

these tolls.” 

The staff report recommended 

a range of ways to raise revenues, 

including a proposed property tax 

increase, and the reintroduction of 

the personal vehicle tax. 

Long-time Oakville owner/ 

operator Al Prior urged industry 

members to support a petition 

against the tolls. 

“The 905 is really subsidizing 

Toronto, and it only encourages 

more toll roads,” he says. “There’s 

going to be tolls everywhere. This 

is a critical issue for the taxi industry. 

We can’t afford any more expenses. 

Even worse, the Gardiner 

won’t even move traffic as the 

repairs are being done -- your $2 

wasted.” 

Of the new tolls, Mississauga 

owner Peter Pellier scoffs, “Whatever 

Tory wants, Tory gets. What a 

weak-kneed Council. 

“(They will) do anything to 

avoid increasing property taxes, 

which they should be doing. Toronto 

property taxes are lower than 

right across the GTA.” 

He agrees one can look for the 

400 series of highways to follow 

suit in becoming toll roads, five to 

10 years down the line. 

“You think the provincial government 

is going to turn a blind 

eye? The Province is always hungry 

for cash,” he continues. “Once 

the public accepts tolls, they will 

maybe start with the 401.” 

Not only does he consider this a 

cash grab, veteran Toronto owner/ 

operator Gerry Manley notes Tory 

campaigned heavily on the promise 

of no tolls. 

“I think we pay enough taxes in 


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Tel: (416) 466-2328 Fax: (416) 466-4220 

Editorial 

Editorial 

Who cares about safety 

Regulations over various businesses have developed over 

centuries for very sound, even essential, public policy 

reasons, including consumer protection and public health 

and safety. 

Yet now the City of Oakville has caved in to private industry pressure 

and opened up its taxi and for hire vehicle markets, just like 

Toronto has done. 

How would the public react to news that restaurants would no 

longer be inspected for cleanliness and safe practices by health officials? 

Not well, we suspect. 

We recall a Toronto Licensing Tribunal hearing some years ago 

where a restaurant was found to have cockroaches walking all over 

salads. Some grocery stores are still found to have serious public 

health threatening rodent infestations in storage areas. This is with 

reasonably competent regulation. Imagine no inspections at all. Welcome 

to ptomaine heaven! 

Yet similar regulations designed to protect the public using vehicles 

for hire are considered by regulators and our current crop of 

politicians to be quaint and utterly unnecessary. 

Is a once a year, relatively cursory Provincial Vehicle Safety Certificate 

good enough to ensure the car you are hiring has decent ball 

joints or brakes? How do you know the driver you are entrusting your 

life, and the lives of your children to, is not a pedophile or worse? 

You don’t, under the current set of non-rules. How do you know the 

driver knows where he or she is going, or how to properly care for 

someone with disabilities? You don’t. Not needed, say the politicians 

and folks at MLS. Heck, let’s get rid of Wheel-Trans driver training 

completely. They care for the same people as accessible taxi drivers 

do— and MLS and the City now say not even basic taxi driver 

training is necessary, much less the more specialized knowledge in 

working with the disabled. 

How do you know you are paying a fair price for your service? 

Taxi meters are no longer being checked and sealed for metered 

rides, and “surge prices” of two, three, even six times normal are 

now apparently perfectly acceptable. 

Taxi drivers are now at substantially greater risk from criminal 

activity, due to the fact cameras will no longer be checked. 

Among the documents City of Oakville staff leaned on in its research 

was the federal Competition Bureau’s November of 2015 report 

entitled, “Modern Regulations in The Canadian Taxi Industry”, 

which warned that with the intrusion of Uber X, “Regulators need 

to make sure that their rules get the overhaul they desperately need, 

before the whole taxi system seizes up.” 

The report concludes that, “Competition should be an essential 

guiding principle in the design and implementation of regulations. 

Greater competition benefits consumers in terms of lower prices, 

higher quality of service, increased consumer convenience, and 

higher levels of innovation.” 

Unfortunately, for both the public and the traditional taxi industry, 

regulators and politicians have seized on this opinion as a rationale 

for essentially deregulating taxis. This despite the fact case study 

after case study has established that deregulation in the taxi industry 

has unfailingly produced calamitous results. 

Politicians and regulators have created a wild west where previous 

overriding concepts of public interest and safety are ignored. 

Deregulation has resulted in lifetimes of work destroyed and people 

once able to make a decent living left destitute. Like it or not, 

regulators do have a responsibility to the regulated as well as to the 

public, whether or not they want acknowledge it. 

Please note: the Competition Bureau did NOT suggest getting out 

of regulation entirely. Rather, it suggested a measured approach to 

lesser regulation while keeping in mind “legitimate policy concerns.” 

The Competition Bureau says competition leads to lower prices. 

Really? We challenge them to prove it with real world experience, 

particularly with taxis. In the real world, over many years in too 

many cities, including devastating examples in Montreal and Halifax/Dartmouth, 

chaos and lousy public service have directly resulted 

from taking the free market proponents’ laissez-faire approach. 

It may take a little time, and tragically and all too probably a few 

deaths, but these terrible decisions will come back to haunt the politicians, 

and the public. 

Letters to The Editor 

Don’t drop the ball on 

City’s highly successful 

in-cab camera program 

To the editor, 

(Editor’s note: This is an open letter 

to Toronto Police Services and 

Chief of Police Mark Saunders, 

dated December 16, 2016.) 

Chief Saunders, 

The City of Toronto, 

through their Municipal 

Licensing & Standards 

(MLS) division has informed the 

city’s taxicab industry membership 

that effective December 31, 

2016, they are closing the taxicab 

inspection site at 843 Eastern Avenue. 

I believe this will have a dramatic 

effect on how your Service will be 

able to deal with crimes that involve 

taxicabs in the City. As I am sure 

you are aware, the City’s taxicab industry 

has been a partner in a very 

successful safety program with your 

service since 2000. Since that time, 

taxicabs in our City are required to 

have both a digital camera installed 

in each taxicab and external emergency 

flashing lights as well. 

Although the equipment will still 

be a requirement under the bylaw, 

without the semi annual inspection 

requirements at Eastern Avenue 

where these systems were checked 

to ensure they were operable and in 

good order, the equipment will soon 

deteriorate and will be of little use 

as either a prevention or a tool of 

investigation. 

• see top page 11 

Who says City shouldn’t 

compensate industry for 

devastating financial losses? 


In the December, 2016 edition 

of taxi news, Mike Beggs 

wrote an article entitled “Mississauga 

scraps contentious subcommittee, 

assigns Uber pilot to 

staff.” Part of that article included 

a paragraph that stated “City solicitors 

in both Toronto and Mississauga 

have already stated that 

such compensation is beyond 

their purview,” meaning they do 

not have the right to compensate 

taxi owners for their business 

losses due to the inclusion of Private 

Transportation Companies 

(PTC’s) such as Uber Technology. 

• see bottom page 11 

More letters to the Editor on pages 9, 10 & 11 

January 2017 

Publisher 

John Q. Duffy 

Editor 

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Comment 


What is behind City’s rush to dismantle 

longstanding public protections? 

Many of you will have noticed that this January 

2017 issue of Taxi News is on the street about 

a week early. There is a reason for this, and it 

is personal to me. 

Going back in time a bit, to earlier in 2016, I went in for 

my annual eye checkup. The doctor told me I was developing 

cataracts but they were not ready to be worked on yet. 

She wanted to see me later in the year to check on their 

progress. 

Many of you know I love to play golf, and as the summer 

and fall progressed, I noticed a deterioration in my vision. 

In June I had my very first hole-in-one, in a tournament, on 

a 155-yard par 3. My playing partners saw the ball go in the 

hole. I did not. After about 58 years playing this stupid game 

I couldn’t see my first ace. I can’t express how disappointing 

that was. 

In other rounds my playing partners, really good understanding 

friends, knew I was having trouble seeing where 

the ball was going and spotted for me on virtually every 

shot. They were incredibly patient and helpful and accommodating. 

So in early December I saw the doctor again and she told 

me it was time for the slice and dice. What really scared 

me was she said I was still legal to drive, but “just barely.” 

Yikes. 

To shorten this a bit (too late, I know), I am having both 

eyes worked on as fast as I can. The first operation is scheduled 

for Wednesday, December 28th. I will not be able to 

drive for some days after the operation, depending on how 

fast I heal and other factors, like not lifting heavy weights 

or bending over. Plus, my glasses will not work properly as 

the prescription for one eye will have changed, naturally. I 

don’t know if I will have a temporary eye patch, but if I do 

I should be able to see (and drive) using one eye. But who 

knows? 

So I arranged for the paper to be printed before Christmas, 

and the only day Christmas week I can deliver the paper is 

Tuesday the 27th, the day after Boxing Day. 

The other eye will be worked on at some as yet unknown 

later date. 

Here’s the really good news: if I’m lucky and all goes 

well, I will no longer have to wear glasses for distance, for 

the first time since I was about 6 years old. I’ll still need 

reading glasses, but not having to wear glasses every waking 

moment will be a seriously major change in my life. 

I’m really looking forward to the New Year with much 

improved vision. 

Speaking of cloudy vision, I can only say I am utterly appalled 

at the decision of people at Municipal Licensing and 

Standards to abruptly close the vehicle inspection station on 

Eastern Avenue. 

This is such an amazingly bad decision it boggles the 

mind. 

The entire purpose of municipal licensing is to protect the 

public from bad businesses, including a very few shoddy 

taxi operators. So how does removing taxi and other vehicle 

inspections in any way enhance public safety or well-being? 

It doesn’t. 

The public does not pay for these inspections under MLS 

cost-recovery models, unless of course, MLS executives are 

incompetent in their budgeting process. 

Meters no longer have to be sealed, a key piece of taxi 

REAR VIEW 

inspections since taxi meters were first invented, likely by 

the ancient Romans. 

So MLS is deliberately screwing the public it is there to 

serve. 

It is also deliberately placing every cab driver in the city 

at higher physical risk, not just from poorly maintained cars, 

but because no one is checking to ensure in-car cameras are 

working. I confidently and very sadly predict a few cab drivers 

will die due to criminal action as a direct result of this 

decision not to keep cameras checked. 

Of all the safety measures put into cabs, ever, cameras 

have proved the most effective. 

There is only one explanation I can see for these reckless 

regulatory decisions . 

MLS and others at the City are deliberately giving taxis 

every opportunity to self-destruct by putting crap cars and 

incompetent, untrained, drivers on the road. 

They are deliberately giving every advantage to app-based 

competition while creating every pitfall and roadblock possible 

for taxis operators to fall into. They want the industry 

to destruct so their favored operators, Uber and Lyft and 

whoever, can take over. 

(By the way, do all Uber cars have snow tires, as is required 

by law? If you think yes, do you want to make a 

small bet? Does the City care? Nope.) 

Meanwhile, the City can absolve itself of all responsibility 

for the mess saying taxis obviously can’t do the job of 

properly serving the public. 

It’s a safe bet the downward slide has already begun, I 

have no doubt some taxi operators and some drivers are already 

playing games with car maintenance, fares, personal 

and public safety, not to mention overall customer service. 

For example, a bunch of taxi companies and operators 

very publically signed on to the new cab driver training 

course offered at Centennial College. To the best of my 

knowledge, only one company is living up to the commitment 

to only bring in drivers who have passed the course. 

There are drivers who failed the City-run course but are now 

driving taxi. 

So. My guess about what the City is doing may well be 

right and the City may be right about taxi people being their 

own worst enemies. 

If you’ve a better explanation for what is going on, I’d 

love to hear it. 

I, along with all of us at Taxi News, wish everyone a great 

New Year. May it be safe, happy and prosperous for you and 

your families, despite the best efforts of the City of Toronto 

and Municipal Licensing and Standards to ensure none of 

the good things happen for taxi people. 

Beck dispatch manager will 

be greatly missed 

Beck Taxi dispatcher Joe Tratnik died 

December 13, 2016, after a short struggle with 

bladder cancer and multiple strokes. He was 54 

years old. 

Beck Operations Manager Kristine Hubbard 

said he was “such a private person but such a big 

personality here.” 

She said, “Joe worked for 30 years in the 

industry. He drove, primarily in the east end 

and then became a dispatcher with Beck in 

1997. Since that time he came to be our dispatch 

manager. We are really heartbroken here.” 

Much of his time over the past few years was 

devoted to caring for his mother, who died two 

years ago, Hubbard said. 

No one at Beck is quite sure where he was 

born, but he grew up in Toronto’s East End, in the 

Danforth and Pharmacy area. 

He is survived by his partner Janice, with 

whom he lived for many years.


GTA mayors following Toronto’s lead in bowing to Uber 

• from page 4 

has to be engaged, and these 

guys do private runs after they 

have the Uber connection. So, now 

it’s not insured?” 

At ASC, Barry presented an 

overview of the report, recommending 

a tiered approach to the 

licensing of Uber. 

“The higher volume (100-plus 

vehicles) means higher administration 

costs to manage TNC’s,” 

he related. “Enforcement will usually 

be conducted by at least two 

officers, working at night.” 

He said the training for taxi 

drivers is also being looked at being 

taken out of the bylaw, as in 

Toronto. 

Previously involved in bylaw 

development in Edmonton, Toronto, 

Ottawa, Waterloo Region, 

and Niagara Region, Uber Canada 

public policy manager Chris 

Schafer spoke of, “the benefits 

Uber might bring to a town like 

Oakville.” 

He suggested a 73 percent level 

of support in Oakville, “frankly 

shows support for increased choice 

in the way residents in Canada get 

around town.” 

“Oakville is in a pretty advantageous 

situation, because staff had 

an opportunity to see what has happened 

across Canada,” he said. 

He requested the recommended 

seven-year age limit on vehicles be 

increased to 10 years, to be consistent 

with the majority of the other 

cities which have passed TNC laws. 

“Currently, 13 percent of Uber 

drivers would be impacted by a 

seven-year vehicle,” he noted. 

Councillor Jeff Knoll said the 

demerit issue “really bothers me”, 

considering licensed cabbies are 

called in to meet with staff after 

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reaching six demerit points. 

“I have concerns about drivers 

with seven demerit points on the 

road running our children around,” 

he stated. 

Barry explained that under the 

new bylaw, “We would leave it up 

to Uber to mitigate that.” 

Questions were also raised about 

Uber’s streamlined driver training. 

According to Schafer, Uber offers 

online training, and updated 

tips for good customer service, 

plumbed from its customer feedback 

system, (where customers 

can rate drivers on a scale from 1 

to 5). He noted that Ottawa staff 

reviewed all aspects of customer 

service and concluded that, “Uber 

outperformed traditional ground 

transportation.” 

Among the documents Oakville 

staff leaned on in its research was 

the federal Competition Bureau’s 

November of 2015 report entitled, 

“Modern Regulations in The Canadian 

Taxi Industry”, which warned 

that with the intrusion of Uber X, 

“Regulators need to make sure that 

their rules get the overhaul they 

desperately need, before the whole 

taxi system seizes up.” 

The report concludes that, 

“Competition should be an essential 

guiding principle in the design 

and implementation of regulations. 

Greater competition benefits consumers 

in terms of lower prices, 

higher quality of service, increased 

consumer convenience, and higher 

levels of innovation.” 

“Regulatory limits on competition 

should be based on the best 

available data, be designed to address 

legitimate policy concerns, 

and be no broader than what is reasonably 

necessary to mitigate those 

concerns.” 

But Toronto taxi industry leaders 

say their City has continued to 

turn a blind eye to enforcement 

against Uber X operators since they 

became licensed this past summer, 

while deriving an estimated 

$500,000 a month in per trip revenues 

from the TNC drivers. And 

Bolan fears the Oakville authorities 

will follow suit. 

“I see the problem is, they‘re just 

not going to police it, and basically 

nothing will change,” he said. “I’ve 

never seen the inspectors come out 

at night, and (the Uber X drivers) 

go all night long in Oakville.” 

“I can’t blame the people (for using 

Uber). I blame the enforcement. 

They didn’t enforce against Uber, 

they let them run wild.” 

He just hopes the public will, 

“come to their senses and see there 

are things more important than just 

price.” 

Given its history of pumping 

out more and more plates, Bolan 

feels the Oakville powers that be 

“don’t care” about plate values, 

and whether longstanding owner/ 

operators have a retirement or not. 

Nor does he see the industry raising 

a court action. 

“I doubt it,” he added. “I think, 

in Oakville, they’re just tired of 

fighting -- and nothing happens. 

The only way it goes to court is if 

Toronto leads the way.” 

Oakville resident, and Mississauga 

plate-holder Peter Pellier suggests 

the passing of this bylaw will 

have some bearing on how things 

unfold in Mississauga, where 

they’re still setting the parameters 

of a one-year pilot project for Uber 

X. 

“Yes, I think it does,” he says. 

“There’s no question the Mayors 

are keeping in touch on this issue. 

The GTA in many respects is 

a single entity, certainly economically 

speaking….I’m certainly convinced 

(Mississauga Mayor Bonnie) 

Crombie and (Toronto Mayor 

John) Tory are on the same page 

with Uber. She doesn’t want to 

break with Toronto. 

“While this is still only a pilot, 

my feeling is it’s a small step to 

making the arrangement permanent. 

It is a done deal, but if we can 

introduce some regulatory requirements 

that might dissuade some 

individuals from joining Uber, we 

will do that.” 

He notes the Quebec government 

is, likewise, weighing out how to 

properly regulate TNC’s, and that 

the Provincial minister involved 

said he is looking at how to compensate 

the taxi industry. 

“I’m encouraged by that,” he 

says. “I think the money should be 

coming from the company (Uber), 

who should pay a per trip compensation 

fee that goes directly to the 

owners -- since the municipalities 

aren’t about to compensate us.” 

He claims owners have been 

“pulverized” by the Province and 

local regulators, who let their investments 

be decimated by Uber 

X. He likens it to the post traumatic 

stress experience suffered by war 

veterans and other frontline service 

workers. 

“(You have) all of these victims, 

thousands across the GTA,” he 

adds. “The province, and the local 

municipalities have really left us 

dangling in the wind here. The fact 

the Province has been silent up to 

this point is unconscionable.” 

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City’s snow tire mandate is unfair, 

unreasonable and probably illegal 


Is the City of Toronto abusing provincially given powers 

again? Bylaws are allowed by the Province giving municipalities 

the powers to deal with specific issues that 

may arise out of a wide range of areas that may be distinctive 

to any one particular municipality. The City has mandated 

snow tires be installed only on the vehicles described in their 

new drive-for-hire bylaw and I am wondering how the City 

determines this is something unique to Toronto? Obviously 

it is not, so therefore in this instance, they are violating the 

rationale behind the making of a bylaw. 

The Ontario Highway Traffic Act (HTA), R.R.O. 1990, 

Reg. 625 deals with provincial tire standards and specifications 

and neither it nor any other statute in Ontario contains 

a mandate for snow tire usage anywhere in the province. The 

Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Steven Del Duca 

believes the decision of whether to use snow tires should be 

left up to the drivers, so why should Toronto be the only municipality 

in the Province that mandates their use and then 

applies it to only one specific group? 

I have no doubt the City will counter my argument by saying 

they do have legal authorities to mandate snow tire usage 

in their drive-for-hire bylaw that are derived from powers 

contained in the City of Toronto Act, 2006, (COTA) Part II, 

General Powers of the City, Broad Authority, City bylaw, (2) 

6. Health, safety and well-being of persons and 8. Protection 

of persons and property, including consumer protection. 

An interesting argument, but one that I believe cannot be 

legally supported. COTA only replaces one Ontario Statute 

that being the Municipal Act and since snow tire usage 

would come under a regulation of the HTA, a far more senior 

Act, which has been in force for many more decades 

than COTA and deals with the entire Province, it is doubtful 

that argument has any foundation in law. 

Even if I were to accept the City’s argument, which I 

don’t, then it brings into question if snow tires are so important 

in the drive-for-hire area, why hasn’t the City mandated 

the following categories to have snow tires as well? There 

are hundreds of these vehicles on the City streets each and 

every day and all are compensated for their client driving 

services, yet they are not required to use snow tires. 

• School buses. 

• Commercial buses. 

• Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) buses. 

• TTC Wheel Trans buses that carry physically disabled patrons. 

• Tour Guide buses. 

• The approximately 850 Greater Toronto Airport Authority 

(GTTA) vehicles. 

If snow tire usage is so necessary, why wouldn’t the mandate 

also include the following emergency vehicles: 

• Police Services. 

• Fire Department. 

• Ambulances and Paramedics. 

We then should add in the hundreds of City vehicles in 

the works department, metro roads and all the vehicles that 

work from city hall and their satellite offices. Let’s take it 

one step further and include every vehicle that operates in 

the City as after all you should have concerns here as well. 

When the City legislates that only one specific group must 

have snow tires it is at the very least discriminatory and surely 

also violates this group’s rights under the federal Charter 

of Rights and Freedoms, which clearly states every Canadian 

is entitled to equal protection and equal benefit of the law. 

A message for Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, the latest 

City champion for industry snow tire use. Your personal 

comments and ideas on this subject matter would have better 

served the City, its drive-for-hire industry and your office by 

accepting staff’s recommendation to leave the mandating of 

snow tires out of the new bylaw. 

a) Section 546-49 A (6) of the new drive-for-hire bylaw mandates 

all taxicabs to have snow tires or all weather tires on 

all four wheels from December 1 through April 30, but 

where is the level of fairness when it only includes vehicles 

listed in the drive-for-hire bylaw? Councillor, have 

you ever considered the following before recommending 

snow tire use in the drive-for-hire industry? 

b) Just because it might snow in April does not mean you 

require snow tires in that month as included in the bylaw. 

If I used this reasoning, I would require snow tires in June, 

since when I was in public school many decades ago there 

was a freak storm and it actually snowed on the last day of 

school. 

c) By elongating the usage of snow tires from March 15 

through April 30 of each year, you now have these vehicles 

using snow tires five months out of the year with the 

last six weeks taking up half of the spring season. 

d) The rubber compound of a snow tire or all weather tire 

is softer than a normal tire so it can grip the snow on the 

road much easier, but it wears a lot faster when operating 

on bare pavement and/or when the temperature rises 

above +7c, both of which conditions would for the most 

part prevail in the last 6 weeks of your recommendation, 

thus increasing tire costs substantially. 

e) Other than being more expensive, what is the difference 

between all weather and all season tires? Both tires are 


obviously made to operate in the winter season, but all 

season tires are not mentioned as acceptable in 546-49 of 

the bylaw. 

f) All season tires for my vehicle would be approximately 

$70 per tire cheaper and the tire compound, although not 

as soft as a snow or all weather tire, will operate just fine 

in the snow and I can operate them all year round saving 

the cost of seasonal tire mandates. 

g) Unless I want to re and re the snow tires with my summer 

tires twice a year at about $100 per re and re, to initially 

buy my first set of winter tires I also have to buy a set of 

rims and tire pressure sensors that increase the initial costs 

by $500 to $600 for my vehicle. 

h) If the drive-for-hire vehicle is rear wheel drive, the traction 

comes from the rear wheels only and the front wheels 

are for directional steering, not for traction, so snow tires 

on the front of these vehicles is unnecessary and a total 

waste of money. (The mandate applies to all four wheels 

of the subject vehicles.) 

i) Most of the issues surrounding vehicle mishaps and accidents 

during the winter season has a lot less to do with the 

lack of snow tires than it does with a lack of winter driving 

experience and skills and the refusal of many drivers to 

slow down and adapt to the road and weather conditions. 

I am sure all citizens that live or visit Toronto would like 

to see our mayor, councillors and bureaucrats recommend 

and adopt bylaws that are first legal and secondly show a 

good knowledge of the subject matter that the bylaw deals 

with, both of which are lacking here. 

What anyone’s personal likes and dislikes are at city hall 

should never enter into the decision making process as that 

does not live up to the oath of office, which is to enact bylaws 

that are fair to all and without any personal prejudices. 

I remain, 

Gerald H. Manley 

What are chances City will compensate industry losses? 


compensation, along with continued 

activism and lobbying at city 

hall. 

Manley suggests that Toronto 

and Mississauga’s legal staff are 

out of bounds with their position 

that financial compensation for 

plate-holders falls outside of their 

purview. 

He notes that the town of New 

South Wales, in Australia, has provided 

a per trip compensation fee 

for taxi operators, but doubts that 

the 30 cents per trip fee on Uber X 

runs will ever find its way into taxi 

industry hands. 

“Yeah right,” Eisenberg laughs. 

“Try to collect it.” 

So, what’s next for the battered 

cab industry? 

“We’re waiting on the call from 

Tracey Cook for a consultation ,” 

says IW president Sajid Mughal. 

“She is due to bring a report back 

(on the new bylaw) in 12 months, 

which is May or June.” 

“We’re just waiting for that. But 

we’re so disappointed with this 

Mayor, and with Tracey Cook.” 

For his part, Moore observes, 

“We have to win in the court of 

public opinion.”



Now the City wants to help music industry… 


The Economic Development 

Department of the City of Toronto 

has brought together a bunch of 

stakeholders in the music industry 

and is now going all out to help 

the Music industry via the Toronto 

Music Advisory Council. 

Help includes opening bars later, 

making dental services more 

affordable, providing more venues, 

making venues more accommodating… 

etc. 

There seems to be little thought 

about the effects of opening bars 

later, and the related policing. 

(Look at all the late night shootings 

in the King St. Entertainment 

district.) 

Also there are mechanisms already 

in place for social services 

(including housing and health 

care) for low income people, but 

now Music is apparently a special 

priority. 

Meanwhile, the taxis are thrown 

under the bus. 

Cheers, 

Tony Salvatore 

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Why are PTCs granted 

fewer restrictions on 

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Although vehicle requirements 

for both 

standard taxicabs and 

Private Transportation Company 

(PTC) vehicles are the 

same in that they both must be 

sedans or wheelchair accessible 

vans with a maximum 

seating capacity of seven passengers 

plus the driver and 

be no more than seven model 

years old, there is quite a difference 

in what vehicles are 

permitted in each category by 

the bylaw. 

Standard Plates: 

Taxicabs with a Standard Licence 

can have any of the four 

types of vehicles listed below. 

Accessible Vehicle: Any vehicle 

equipped to transport a 

person in a wheelchair that is 

D409 compliant, whether factory 

built or converted. 

Alternative Fuel Vehicle: 

Any vehicle that runs on one 

fuel source other than regular 

gas such as ethanol, biodiesel, 

natural gas, hydrogen with the 

vehicle size being considered. 

Hybrid Vehicles: Any vehicle 

that runs on two or more fuel 

sources such as gas/electric or 

gas/propane vehicles with the 

vehicle size being considered. 

Low Emissions Vehicles: Any 

vehicle that reflects Natural Resources 

Canada testing procedures 

and contained in a MLS 

link for 2010-2016 vehicles 

(and if you are enquiring about 

2017 approved vehicles, contact 

Marcia Stoltz, 416-392-6071 or 

mstoltz@toronto.ca.) 

If you take the time to read 

bylaw 546-52 Replacement 

vehicles, you will find that the 

above brief explanation is extrapolated 

in this section to 

include all of the unique mandates 

and requirements of each 

vehicle category, which are substantial. 

PTC Vehicle Requirements: 

Bylaw 546-113 – “A” A PTC 

vehicle shall: (1) Have four 

doors. 

Considering taxicabs and 

PTC vehicles both come under 

the same bylaw and drive passengers 

for hire, why would 

the City authorize a PTC to be 

allowed a greater range of vehicles 

they can purchase or use 

as replacement vehicles where 

some are substantially cheaper, 

while taxicabs are stringently 

mandated to purchase vehicles 

that are much higher in cost? 

9 6 

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I remain, 


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4


In-cab cameras have reduced 

crime by over 70 percent 


This program has reduced crime 

by over 70 percent against our 

taxicab drivers and has added an 

element of safety for our consumers 

as well. To not continue with 

inspecting the equipment, that 

percentage will erode and it will 

not take the criminal element in 

the City long to realize the cameras 

may not be working and robbery 

along with other crimes will 

increase exponentially therefore 

increasing the workload for the 

police service, which can easily be 

avoided. 

Having spent over 11 years by 

myself to achieve taxicab workplace 

safety in the City of Toronto 

that culminated in one of the first 

municipal bylaws in the world to 

address this concern, it is personally 

disheartening to me that the City 

of Toronto is pretty well deregulating 

this important safety tool. 

Since these actions will have a 

direct bearing on police investigations 

surrounding taxicabs where 

not only the volume of crime will 

increase, but the success of finding 

the perpetrator will diminish, 

perhaps it is time for your office to 

intervene and come up with a solution 

to ensure this equipment is 

City has destroyed industry 


Not knowing all the ins and outs 

regarding the licensing of Mississauga’s 

taxi owners, I cannot 

speak about their circumstances, 

but being involved in the Toronto 

Taxi Industry for almost 44 years, 

I can tell you with a great deal 

of certainty, it would come well 

within the purview of the City of 

Toronto. 

Keeping in mind that the City of 

Toronto, with the Province of Ontario’s 

permission under the Municipal 

Act until January 1, 2007 

and after this date under the City 

of Toronto Act, 2006, has had the 

powers to regulate their taxicab industry 

as they deem fit. 

In the mid 1960’s, Toronto began 

to allow a taxi owner’s licence 

to have an intrinsic value, which 

included as much as a $5,000 

transfer fee payable to the City of 

Toronto upon sale of the licence. 

Since this transfer fee was well 

beyond the province’s guidelines, 

which was mandated to be on a 

cost recovery basis only, it is rather 

obvious that the City profited 

from the sale of the licence and 

continued to do so until the recent 

drive-for-hire bylaw removed the 

transfer fee. 

Since the City of Toronto profited 

from the sale of the taxi 

owner’s licence, which continued 

for over 50 years and always had 

the power of legislation to either 

continue or stop the process, how 

can the City of Toronto’s legal department 

state it is not within the 

City’s purview to compensate the 

taxi owners when the City set the 

bylaws for the taxi industry and 

profited from the taxi licence sale? 

The City set the rules, allowed 

the sale, profited from it thus not 

only allowing, but guaranteeing 

the taxi owners could predicate 

their entire business careers and 

retirement on those rules and regulations. 

Now 50 years later they 

not only totally change the rules 

destroying the bylaw guarantees, 

but have the unmitigated gall to 

say that compensation is not within 

their purview? 

I have no doubt in my mind that 

the courts may have a different 

view on this than the City of Toronto’s 

solicitors do, but this is the 

usual ploy on any matter regarding 

the City as they have never taken 

responsibility for their actions on 

any issue where they are found to 

be in violation. 

I remain, Gerald H. Manley 

checked and the continued safety 

of our city’s taxicab drivers and 

consumers is addressed. This in 

turn will of course enhance the capabilities 

of your officers to more 

thoroughly conclude their investigations 

into any alleged crimes 

that are committed in and around 

a city taxicab. 

I wish to thank you in advance 

for your anticipated involvement 

in this serious issue and if I can 

personally be of any further assistance, 

please do not hesitate to 

contact me. 

I remain, 


TAXIS AVAILABLE AT: 

North Star Taxi 

31 Carlaw Ave. 416-463-1868 / 416-466-4151 

A-One Links Corp. 

800 Danforth Road. Sultan (416) 471-9535 

Abee Taxi 17 Musgrave Ave. 416-826-0775 

Abshir Motors 1 Towns Road 416-255-4347 

Ahmad, Sajjad 

318 Greenwood Ave. 647-831-3140 

Alam Auto Service 490 Dupont St. 416-319-7860 

ANS & Mikes Ont. 9 Dibble St. 416-463-9917 

Bajwa Taxi 41 Eddystone Ave. 416-741-6904 

Bereket Taxi Bereket 7 Thora Ave. 416-816-0632 

Best Tech Auto Baljit 

371 Bering Ave. 416-236-3646 

Bhalli Taxi call Babar 416-824-5323 

BK Auto Service 1750 Keele St. 416-573-4275 

Hamad Auto Repair 410 Eastern Avenue 

416-839-4433 Yasin 

HPM Taxi 14 Thora Avenue 416-690-8641 

Jutt Motors 1000 Weston Road 416-531-4200 

Kashmir Singh 7 Racine Road 

(Kipling & Rexdale) ph: 416-744-3920 

Kennedy Auto Repair 

526 Kennedy Rd. 416-265-1010 

Leslieville Auto 759 Eastern Ave. 416-833-2701 


L&S MEETING 

SCHEDULE 2017 

The following is the list of scheduled meetings of 

the Licensing and Standards Committee for 2017. 

Friday, January 13, 2107 

Dec., 2016 no meeting scheduled 

January 13, 2017 - 9:30 am 

March 6, 2017 - 9:30 am 

April 18, 2017 - 9:30 am 

May 11, 2017 - 9:30 am 

June 14, 2017 - 9:30 am 

September 18, 2017 - 9:30 am 

October 20, 2017 - 9:30 am 

November 20, 2017 - 9:30 am 

Dec., 2017 no meeting scheduled 

Committee members are: Cesar Palacio (Chair), 

Glenn De Baeremaeker, Jim Karygiannis (Vice-Chair), 

Giorgio Mammoliti and Josh Matlow. 

MEETINGS IN COMMITTEE ROOM 1 

Secretariat Contact: Dela Ting, 10 th floor, West Tower, City Hall 

100 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON M5H 2N2 

email: lsc@toronto.ca, or by phone at 416-397-4592 or by fax at 416-392-1879 

ALWAYS THERE BECAUSE 

WE’RE EVERYWHERE 

Manville Auto Tarsem or Prem 

140 Manville Rd. 416-288-9722 

New One Stop Auto 

7 Thora Ave. 416-694-9095 

Noor (Quality Cars Wholesale) 416-782-2200 

1526 Keele Street 

Peter’s Taxi Limited 75 Crockford Blvd. 

(Warden & Lawrence) 416-365-2121 

S.M. Taxi 296 Brock Ave. 416-220-0119 

S & P Auto 1347 Queen St. E 416-465-3369 

Saran Taxi (West End) 416-822-5656 

Serge’s Taxi 5 Canso Road 416-744-2224 

Sethi’s Taxi 288 Eddystone Ave. 416-744-0867 

Stars Auto 

405 Kennedy Road. 416-261-4111 

Steve’s Taxi 3312 Danforth Ave. 416-467-0305 

Sukhi Auto Repairs 

318 Greenwood Ave 416-465-7035 

Sunny Auto 29 Algie Ave. 416-616-0537 

Tac Garage Line 

266 Parliament St. 416-360-6565 

Telco Auto (Jessie) 7 Elrose Ave. 416 746-4527 

Universal Auto Body 

95 Eddystone Ave. (416) 746-2864 

UNT Auto Services 

3180 Danforth Avenue 647-221-4226 

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Camera program 

will also suffer 


against taxi drivers by between 70 

and 80 percent! It will now be left 

to concerned operators to pay for 

camera inspections, at a cost of 

$30 to $50. But Manley observes 

that, “history has proven, unless 

mandated it will probably not occur.” 

“(This system) has worked very 

well. Now, nobody is going to 

check the equipment. We haven’t 

had any upgrades in 10 years,” he 

beefs. “All of a sudden, this successful 

program is going down the 

tubes.” 

Hubbard agrees the City’s level 

of concern should span both the 

mechanical fitness of taxis, and 

protecting drivers and passengers 

with cameras which are properly 

installed and working. 

“It’s clear to me. They do not 

care one bit about public safety,” 

she alleges. 

Similarly, Manley estimates a 

meter inspection will now cost taxi 

operators $30 to $50. 

For all of these inspections to be 

done privately, and semi-annually, 

he ballparks the cost at $600 per 

year. He reiterates that, “these 

Don’t punish cabs 


this city right now to maintain the 

highways,” he comments. “Will 

this money go to that? I don’t 

think so. It will probably go into 

the general (coffers).” 

He says the tolls will cause further 

chaos for the cab industry, already 

hammered by the infiltration 

of Uber X. 

“We have to pass that (cost) on 

to our customers, and we’ve already 

lost 60 percent of our business,” 

he complains. 

However, he maintains that, in 

order to service their clientele in 

a cost-effective manner, the city’s 

10,000-plus licensed cabbies 

should be exempted from paying 

these tolls – much like they were 

accommodated on the City’s HOV 

lanes, in a pilot projected extended 

through June of 2018. 

“We may have to fight for it,” he 

says. “We should be exempt. We 

provide a commercial service.” 

Because, “we’re commercial vehicles”, 

Lucky 7 Taxi owner Lawrence 

Eisenberg agrees. “Anything 

to (better) transport the public 

around,” he says. “But does that 

mean Uber has a free ride, too?” 

Of a possible exemption, Smith 

offers, “We could try. But the City 

of Toronto doesn’t do much for 

costs must now be removed from 

the annual taxicab owners’ license 

renewal fees.” 

According to Cook, adjustments 

to fees as a result of the closing of 

the Vehicle Inspection Centre are 

under consideration by the City as 

part of the 2017 budget process, 

and further details will be available 

in late February. 

When asked how the closing the 

DOT inspection centre in any way 

enhances public safety, she responds, 

“A number of adjustments 

to Business Licensing and Regulatory 

Services, and Licensing 

Enforcement have been made in 

order to manage the changes that 

will be taking place with the new 

regulatory requirements within the 

Vehicle-for-hire Bylaw.” 

“The safety standards remain 

the same. Mechanical inspections 

must be conducted by a Motor Vehicle 

Inspection Station (MVIS) 

garage operator licensed by the 

Ontario Ministry of Transportation. 

In order to be valid, a Safety 

Standards Certificate must have 

been issued no more than 36 days 

before the vehicle’s inspection 

date.” 

taxis. I wouldn’t count on that. I 

think cabs are going to be charged, 

and rates are going to go up.” 

Pellier believes all commercial 

vehicles should be exempted, noting 

they comprise a small percentage 

of all vehicles on our highways. 

He cites the success of the hefty 

“core tax” being charged in many 

European cities, in reducing highway 

gridlock. 

“Apparently the volume of traffic 

has been reduced as a result. 

(But) where will the traffic go?” 

he asks. “Local streets are going 

to be a nightmare -- Lakeshore, 

Queen, King, The Queensway, 

Don Mills, Spadina, Bathurst. 

The problem is, you can’t increase 

public transit fast enough.” 

iTaxi office administrator Patricia 

Reilly concurs, stating, 

“People are going to leave the (toll 

roads) and start traversing through 

our wards to avoid the highway. 

This is actually regressive. The 

history (of road transportation) is 

to get people out of the neighbourhoods, 

and on to the highways.” 

Staff projected that these tolls 

wouldn’t take effect until 2019, or 

2020, meaning this could resurface 

as an issue in the 2018 municipal, 

and provincial elections. 

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