Health warning label: attempting to read the VHS Review in one sitting may cause dizzy spells and blurred vision. Image: Taxi News
Opinion/ColumnRide Hailing newsTaxi industry newsToronto VHF Review

Having 85,000 vehicles for hire IS the problem

Ensure eternal angst by freezing the number exactly where it is Let’s be real: 85,000 VFH represents no ‘cap’ at all; it’s just a language game…You could permit 500,000 or a million licenses and call that a ‘cap,’ too, if

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Jesse Coleman (Manager of Transportation Data and Analytics) and Carleton Grant (Executive Director Municipal Licensing and Standards presented the 2024 VFH Review at Toronto City Hall on December 3, 2024. Photo: Alexander Zdravko
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry newsToronto VHF Review

Overview of proposed Accessible Taxi program

Centralized dispatch, $55,000 conversion grant, March 2026 launch The information below represents a concise summary of the Accessible Taxi elements of Toronto’s 2024 Review of the Vehicle for Hire. Access the report which is going to Executive Committee on December

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.34 per ride trip fees paid by Uber to the City of Toronto in 2023. Source: City of Toronto
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry newsToronto VHF Review

No mention $15M per-trip fees in VFH report

“Staff cannot predict the how the recommended licensing cap would affect future PTC trip volumes“ While Toronto’s December 3rd 2024 Review of the Vehicle-for-Hire By-Law and Industry details $0.87 million in potential financial implications, it makes no reference to the

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Ontario needs to increase truck driver training to include simulator training, says MPP Guy Bourgouin.
Media releaseRoad Safety DiscussionTrucking

MPP Guy Bourgouin introduces private member’s bill to improve highway safety

Training should include at least 20 hours on a simulator MPP Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk – James Bay) is calling on the government to increase truck driver training requirements. Amidst ongoing reports of fraud and corruption in truck driver licensing centers across

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Rideshare decals and Taxi roof lights are available for purchase on numerous online sites, including Etsy (shown here). "Visual identifiers, or lack of control over visual identifiers, can be a serious safety issue," says CTA president Marc Andre Way.
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Passenger safety, consumer protection absent from VFH review

“It’s a disappointment” after recent Peel sexual assaults, CTA says The words “consumer” and “protection” are no where to be found in Toronto’s new Vehicle for Hire (VFH) recommendations. “Passenger safety” is also missing. Taxi News ported the text of

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Will Ferrell complained to media that Toronto's traffic is unbearable when he attended the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024. Image: Toronto Star
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry newsToronto VHF Review

Unlimited EVs mean no rideshare cap, more congestion

Despite the claim that Toronto’s December 3rd staff report recommends placing a “cap” of 80,000 on rideshare vehicles, the exemption for fully electric vehicles (EVs) means there is actually no cap at all, industry members point out. “The first thing

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George Wedge, president of the Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario, spoke to Canada's federal Ethics Committee on December 3rd. Earlier that morning, Toronto released the "Analysis of Driver Wages in the Vehicle-for-Hire Industry," which showed rideshare drivers average less than $6.00 per hour after expenses. Image: ParlVu
Democracy & GovernmentNewsRide Hailing news

Ethics Committee stunned by rideshare pay and practices

Canada’s federal Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics heard from rideshare industry members and observers December 3rd to learn about algorithmic pricing impacts consumer privacy and workers’ earnings. Taxi News will be sharing clips and coverage of

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Jesse Coleman (Manager of Transportation Data and Analytics) and Carleton Grant (Executive Director Municipal Licensing and Standards presented the 2024 VFH Review at Toronto City Hall on December 3, 2024. Photo: Alexander Zdravko
Democracy & GovernmentNewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry newsToronto VHF Review

Grant rejects VFH industry recommendations

Industry input “speculative, opinion” Carlton Grant says by Rita Smith and Alexander Zdravko Despite inviting industry members to provide input into the 2024 Review of the Vehicle-for-Hire By-Law and Industry and paying $30,000 for public consultation sessions, staff based their

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"The newly named North Star Way laneway commemorates the journeys of the estimated 100,000 people who escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad. As slaves travelled north under the cover of night, they used the North Star to guide their way," Councillor Christopher Moise reported in a recent newsletter. Photo: https://www.chrismoise.ca/
Opinion/ColumnRide Hailing news

Is Toronto a partner in modern slavery?

City collected $15,000,000 from Uber drivers while it renamed streets Debt bondage/bonded labour. The world’s most widespread form of slavery. People trapped in poverty borrow money and are forced to work to pay off the debt, losing control over both their

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