PTC driver turnover rate tops 90% some years, FOI documents show
The driver turnover rate in private transportation companies has been extremely high every year since Toronto wrote By-Law 546 legalizing them in 2016.
Documents obtained by Taxi News through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request indicate that the number of PTC drivers still driving in 2021 is as low as 7 or 8 per cent, as indicated in the FOI text and the charts below.
“Of the PTC clients licensed in 2019, only 25% of them were also licensed in 2021. Of the VFH clients licensed in 2019, only 15% of them were also licensed in 2021,” Licensing staff wrote in response to questions from Mayor John Tory through his advisor Steevan Sritharan in November, 2021 as Toronto was working to issue a Request for Proposals to providers of Vehicle for Hire driver training.
“From: Steevan Sritharan
Sent: November 22, 2021 11:16 AM
To: Carleton Grant; Ginny Adey; Negin Shamshiri
Subject: Questions
Hello everyone,
I hope are you having a good start to the week.
The Mayor raised some questions this morning that I hope one of you can answer…
…2) How many new VFH/PTC licenses come and how many lapse?
Since June 1, 2020, we have licensed 16,500 new PTC drivers and 205 new VFH drivers. The tables below show the percent of licensed drivers in each year that are currently licensed.
| VFH Licence was first Issued In: | What % of Licensees have a Licence in 2021? |
| 2016 | 7% |
| 2017 | 8% |
| 2018 | 9% |
| 2019 | 15% |
| 2020 | 33% |
| 2021 | 100% |
| PTC Licence was first Issued In: | What % of Licensees have a Licence in 2021? |
| 2016 | 17% |
| 2017 | 15% |
| 2018 | 20% |
| 2019 | 25% |
| 2020 | 39% |
| 2021 | 100% |
Notes:
• The above table can be read in the following way:
o Of the PTC clients licensed in 2019, only 25% of them were also licensed in 2021. Of
the VFH clients licensed in 2019, only 15% of them were also licensed in 2021.
o Of the PTC clients licensed in 2020, only 39% of them were also licensed in 2021. Of
the VFH clients licensed in 2020, only 33% of them were also licensed in 2021.
o Note, it does not mean that drivers have been licensed continuously, as they may
have been licensed in 2016, left the vehicle-for-hire industry in 2017-2020, and
returned in 2021.
• However, the data does suggest that the annual turnover rate of licensees is quite high.
This is not unexpected, as many drivers join the industry to work periodically and/or
seasonally. For example, while there were over 90,000 licensed PTC drivers in February
2020, only 56,000 of them logged in during the month and the majority of drivers were
driving sporadically, and part-time.
3) How many total VFH/PTC licenses do we have to-date for this year?
As of September 30, 2021:
VFH – 7,558
PTC – 47,193
I would also note that :
• New PTC entrants who have paid there $20,000 initial licensing fee are now unable to
operate ( e.g. HerRIde) as each driver must be licensed per company.
• New taxi plate owners are unable to operate (e.g. new owner who just purchased a plate
with GTAA access unable to drive passengers to/from airport in Toronto).
• Taxi and PTC drivers who let their licences lapse in 2020 and 2021 while on CERB are
classified as new drivers and are unable to apply for a licence.
Best,
Steevan
Steevan Sritharan
Advisor, Legislative Affairs
Office of Mayor John Tory | City of Toronto”
