Fletcher surprised 14% of downtown traffic is rideshare
“I can’t tell you how surprised I was when I read that”
Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher was unpleasantly surprised to see that 14 per cent of traffic in the downtown core are Private Transportation Company (PTC) vehicles.
“The research indicate that the impact of congestion in Ontario is approximately $56.4 billion in 2024, including an economic impact of $12.8 billion. The remaining $43.6 billion represents the substantial loss in social value due to the negative impacts of congestion on commuters’ daily lives and well-being.“
–Impact of Congestion in the GTHA and Ontario: Economic and Social Risks, CANCEA
“I was so surprised to see when we’re talking about congestion, that 14 per cent of all the cars in downtown are with a PTC (Private Transportation Company),” Fletcher noted in her remarks at the close of the December 10 Executive Committee meeting.
“I can’t tell you how surprised I was when I read that and thought, ‘Here we are. We’re attacking congestion. We’re doing what we can do about congestion. Somebody thinks that bike lanes are the congestion… but they don’t appear to be the main problem for congestion in the downtown core.”
Executive Committee was considering a staff report proposing rideshare vehicles including Uber and Lyft be “capped” at 80,429. After several hours of debate and discussion, Committee voted to adopt a motion by Mayor Olivia Chow to send the report back to staff with instructions to do further research in several areas including congestion, surge pricing and a dynamic licensing limit.
On December 9th, one day ahead of the Committee meeting, a new study was released which indicates that the cost of lost economic opportunities in the Greater Toronto Area due to congestion totaled more than $10 billion in 2024 and that number rose to more than $47 billion when factoring in the “social impacts” that diminish a commuter’s quality of life, according to a new report.
The study was conducted by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA) on behalf of the Residential & Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario and the Ontario Road Builders’ Association. According to the December 9th report, congestion cost the Ontario economy $12.8 billion in 2024, with the vast majority of that amount, $10.1 billion, concentrated in the GTHA. When considering the social impact cost, the study found that the figure rose to $56.4 billion across Ontario.
Toronto capped the number of Taxis 5,500 in 2014, before the arrival of Uber and ridesharing and the number of Vehicles for Hire skyrocketed to more than 85,000 vehicles.
Uber’s representative in Toronto Jake Brockman told the Committee meeting that should Toronto cap the number of licensed vehicles, it would be “the only 2026 World Cup host city to have limited the supply of ride share,” and that in a recent study of residents “the top concerns that they expressed to the city were increased prices, increased wait times and too few drivers to provide transportation services.”
