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8 January 2017 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 Open 8am to 8pm EXPERIENCED D.O.T. SPECIALIST $50 per hour + parts Taxi Only 2775 Birchmount Road, Scarborough, Ontario M1W 2L7 Tel: (416) 293-7907 Fax: (416) 293-7654 PLATE WANTED FOR LEASE 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.” 2215 DUNDAS ST. EAST. MISSISSAUGA ON DUNDAS, JUST WEST OF THE 427 ON THE NORTH SIDE PLEASE ASK FOR MICHELLE TORREALBA Fleet Manager cell: 647-462-4992 phone: 905-625-3420 ext. 225 email: mtorrealba@mississaugatoyota.com Accept Credit Card & Debit Card We’ll Pay you CA$$$$$H! * No Contracts… No Hidden fee… ALL DRIVERS ARE WELCOME! Including Lessees, Shift Drivers or Limo Drivers All you need is your Taxi License and Provincial License! For More Details, come to our office at 234 Parliament St. or call us! Office: 647-347-8000 Direct: 416-878-6834 Fax: 647-347-0101 *Conditions May Apply Specialty Service Inc.
Letters to The Editor City’s snow tire mandate is unfair, unreasonable and probably illegal To the editor, 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 9 January 2017 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? • from page 2 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.”
Page 1 and 2: A terrible, terrible year… page 2
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