MLS enforces the law for FIFA, not Accessible

It’s hard to believe

In the best-case scenario, FIFA might finally highlight Toronto’s abject failure on the Accessible Taxi file in a way that finally gets results. That would be great to see.

Last week, Uber driver and commentator Earla Philips pointed out that MLS enforcement officers have laid 100 charges against merchants illegally using “FIFA” branding since the World Cup launched.

“City of Toronto by-law officers have issued more than 100 citations for bylaw violations around FIFA branding but they can’t get out there and enforce the bylaws around vehicles for hire and the requirement for companies like Uber, Lyft and Hopp to provide a wheelchair accessible fleet as required under the bylaws,” she noted incredulously.

(Equally unbelievable is the fact that Toronto has collected more than $21 million directly from ground transportation drivers into what is referred to as “The Accessibility Fund” which is sitting in a bank account somewhere, doing nothing to help riders who need transportation options.)

Waterloo Regional Councillor Chantal Huinink made headlines in April when she was unable to book WAVs to get her to meetings in Toronto and Mississauga. Huinink spoke with Taxi News in June and observed about FIFA special guests with disabilities, “Dignitaries will pay whatever premiums they need to pay to get where they need to be. Politicians are well cared for; I know, because I am one.”

“But we need to start thinking about the unelected people because, as you’ve noted, there are not very many visibly disabled politicians in Canada or in the world. I think it would do Toronto good to be concerned that dignitaries might not be able to get around, right? But I’m, sure they’ve done what they can to make provisions for the specifically important folks,” notes Huinink, who uses a motorized wheelchair and is visually impaired.

 “And so, from an international perspective, the incentives for Toronto to ensure that everything they offer is accessible is less than it should be.”

Ironically, Huinink’s April engagements with Toronto MLS staff offer a stark demonstration of the smoke-and-mirrors approach being used when it comes to Accessible services. In preparation for travelling from her Toronto conference to her Mississauga conference, Huinink asked an MLS staffer how to book an on-demand WAV to get to Mississauga.

Unbeknownst to Huinink, MLS then contacted a Toronto Taxi brokerage manager directly in order to guarantee a WAV would be available at the designated time. Had this not occurred, it’s highly likely that Huinink’s worst experience booking an on-demand WAV would have been in Toronto, not Mississauga (which has now launched an investigation into why no WAV was available when Huinink tried to book one).

The last time Toronto was forced to seriously work on its provision of equitable on-demand Taxi service was in 2013, when Alessia Di Virgilio filed a Human Rights Complaint. 2013 was also virtually the last Uber-free year in Toronto, and so the last year when Taxi industry members had the financial wherewithal and capacity to create a workable plan in a capped marketplace with 5,500 vehicles for hire instead of the 80,000 competing for business now.

Huinink, an articulate and persuasive advocate for Accessible transportation, makes several indisputable points:

“Of all the groups a person could be a part of, the group of ‘disabled persons’ is the only one that anyone could end up in, at any time,” she points out.

“Even persons who don’t need Accessible transportation today could need it in the future. About 25 per cent of our population has a disability…that’s a lot of people, a lot of business, and we need on-demand services to get to appointments. Pre-booked transportation, everyone seems to manage; it’s the on-demand that’s the challenge.

“The AODA is the law, and accessibility is a moral imperative.”

THE DATA: Beck has 1140 cars and at one time dispatched to 200 wav's. By 2024 we had 98. Today there are 26. Of 26, half are on the road (15 today) spanning the 427 to the Rouge, Steeles to the lake, so essentially none. Of 26, 18 expire in March but many will fail before that.

— Kristine Hubbard (@KristineHubbard) June 25, 2026

Beck Taxi Operations Manager Kristine Hubbard’s epic Twitter stream of the June 15 Accessibility Committee meeting shreds staff statements on the number of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles available, during FIFA or at any other time of the year. While Committee Chair Jamaal Myers was first told Toronto has 482 WAVs available, a quick breakdown of the numbers shows there are actually 84 such vehicles in the best case scenario; Hubbard says Beck has 15 on the road.