Seizing inactive Taxi plates the wildest idea yet
“Wait a minute – is this is a trick question?”
This week, I received a call from an industry member requesting Taxi News re-post the June 24th article, “Toronto considers seizing inactive plates.” It has now been re-posted for those who might have missed it when it originally ran, or who may have missed some of the key points.
My caller asked not to be named in this column, but he had just re-read the article in its full detail – news copy, video transcript, and power point slides – and was hopping mad about the implications of it.
He was outraged at one proposal displayed for discussion, which reads as follows:
“Proposal
- Allow taxicab owners to keep their taxicabs inactive for one more year
After one year, inactive licenses would be cancelled unless the owner:
-registers an eligible vehicle; and
-provides proof of insurance and a safety standard certificate for the vehicle.
- Re-issue licenses to replace cancelled licenses.
-Offer these licenses to drivers on existing waiting list
-If the drivers’ waiting list is exhausted, the City may consider a lottery or first come, first serve process to re-issue the licenses.”
“Is anyone actually paying attention to what Toronto is trying to do here?” my caller asked. “They are talking about seizing the plates from drivers who have worked their whole lives to purchase them. Whether they worked for years on the waiting list, or mortgaged their homes or borrowed from family members to come up with $300,000 to buy one, they worked like slaves to purchase their plate – and now Toronto is talking about seizing them?”
My caller was particularly impressed with the comments made on the teleconference by Abdul Mohamoud, CEO of Co-op Cabs, who was quick enough to realize the implications of plate seizure immediately:
“Wait a minute – is this is a trick question?” asked Mohamoud.
“The city issued the plates; people bought them on the open market; the city devalued them by flooding the market; and now the city moves on cancelling the plates. I think you need to consider of the legal consequences of that,” Mahamoud told City staff and participants on the videoconference meeting.
“The issue at hand, again, the elephant in the room, is the oversupply of vehicles.”
My caller was incensed at the “option” being offered as the poll question: “The way the question is worded pre-supposes the City has the right to ‘allow’ owners to be active or inactive, owners who cannot possibly generate the revenues they need to stay on the road with unlimited Ubers cruising the streets,” he fumed.
“So now, what, are City staff going to tell Councillors they consulted with Taxi drivers and came up with some insane response, like seizing plates from drivers who legally purchased them, and that THAT’S going to get more Accessible cabs on the road? They have no idea what they are doing.”
I don’t know the answer to that question – there were 45 participants who could have voted on the June 24th Taxi industry consultation teleconference, and we never did get to see the results of the poll taken on the plate seizure question.
However, there is one thing I’m pretty certain about: these words, “Re-issue licenses to replace cancelled licenses…offer these licenses to drivers on existing waiting list” pre-suppose something even more difficult to believe. The statement pre-supposes that new, scab drivers would be more able to earn enough money to keep a Taxi on the road, than the current, rightful owner has been. In fact, the new operator would quickly find out there is not enough business to keep a Accessible van on the road, exactly as the old operator found and which is the reason the plate is on the shelf in the first place.
The problem Toronto has to solve is not that it doesn’t have enough committed Taxi operators willing to invest in Accessible vans and to serve the public. Rather, it has far too many short-term, part-time rideshare drivers who do not invest in any Accessible vehicles at all.
Seizing the lawfully purchased plates of lifetime-committed operators and awarding them to those who make minimal investment is the worst idea Toronto has come up with yet. Let’s hope it dies a quick, quiet death before the November staff report is written.
