Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Taxi News & Road Warrior News

Author: Rita Smith

Canadian author Cory Doctorow Image: Pluralistic
Feature/ProfileRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

“Autoenshittification” allows car makers to steal your data and pick your pocket, Cory Doctorow says

Rita Smith

“Enshittification” is the term Doctorow created in 2022 to describe what happens when an online platform like Amazon or Twitter becomes more monetized and less user-oriented the longer it lasts. These platforms started out serving users by offering features that lure them in; then serve advertisers and third parties by offering ad targeting and deals; and lastly, serve themselves and their shareholders by cheating and exploiting both advertisers and users. Doctorow calls this process “enshittification.”

“Autoenshittification” is when these anti-consumer design and marketing principles are applied to vehicles being packed with digital technologies no one wants.

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Councillor Mike Colle's April 23 motion to require Vehicle for Hire firms to improve emergency contact systems will be the topic of upcoming industry consultations. Image: YouTube
Opinion/ColumnTaxi industry newsTrucking

US firms dictate Canadian passenger safety rules

Rita Smith

Experience: recognizing a mistake the second time you make it When John Tory re-wrote Toronto’s Taxi by-law to give Uber special privileges in 2016, professionals who care and worry about passenger safety were aghast. In one fell swoop, virtually all

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People Magazine ran a fulsome interview with Julia Viscomi, whose daughter went missing in an Uber vehicle last winter. Uber refused to provide the driver's contact information to Toronto Police. Image: Facebook
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

No VFH emergency contacts consultations scheduled

Rita Smith

Motion to consult with VFH industry passed April 23 As of June 17, industry consultation around Vehicle for Hire emergency contact information systems have not been scheduled by Toronto staff. Licensing and Standards staff were directed to conduct the consultations

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VFH drivers already trying to live on half of the minimum wage will have interesting views on Hopp's arrival in Toronto, to be sure. Image: Hopp
Opinion/ColumnRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Hopp believes Toronto needs more VFH

Rita Smith

Because 85,000 VFH are not enough to completely annihilate the Wheelchair Accessible program? Toronto media is beyond ironic this week. First, the CBC covered the fact that 98 of Beck Taxi’s 100 wheelchair accessible vehicles will be off the road

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Retired Taxi driver Andy Reti and his wife Judy spend several days each year visiting Ontario schools to ensure young people remember the Holocaust. On May 9th, he finished a week of visits to schools in the Ottawa-Carleton School Board by speaking to students in Athens, Ontario. Photo: Taxi News
Feature/ProfileNewsTaxi industry news

Upstander Andy Reti shares Holocaust education in Ontario

Rita Smith

“Are you an Upstander, or a Bystander?” A classroom full of teenagers were intrigued by this question when it was put to them bluntly by guest speaker and Holocaust survivor Andy Reti. An Upstander, he explained, is a person who

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A well-designed and perfectly installed culvert is a thing of beauty. You appreciate this most on a road where one is missing.Photo: Road Warrior News
Opinion/Column

A flash-flood of common sense

Rita Smith

“When you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.” — Dale Carnegie In Ontario during springtime, the lowly culvert becomes a hugely significant piece of infrastructure. Dry ditches can become raging creeks with mini-waterfalls in March and April; our system

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