Probably no one, not even his biggest fans, would put him in the same class of writers as Ernest Hemingway. However, as a Bullshit Detective, Hans Wienhold is in a class of his own. (In fact, in his Taxi News bio he proudly describes himself as a “Welfare Recipient at Senior’s Welfare; Self-Employed; and also, a Climate Scientist at BS Detective Services.”)
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At its May 17th “Go-Get Family Style” launch event, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stressed the company’s safety features which include dialling 911 in case of emergency (although, Uber’s Terms explain “In the event that you need to place a 911 emergency call on behalf of your teen, the dispatcher you’re connected with will see your location, not your teen’s.” How would that help?)
As a parent and a consumer, the sheer number of sexual assaults by Uber drivers in Canada and around the globe set alarm bells ringing.
As the publisher of Taxi News, I cringe recalling comments from an Uber driver who laughed that he didn’t drive for the money: “It’s to meet chicks, man, the chicks you meet at closing time!”
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I dragged myself to the Committee meeting room and took my seat in the row of speakers. Everyone was there for the same reason: to ask for funds for their program from the limited Tourism budget. My group, Taxis on Patrol, was asking for $7,000 to help fund an annual program which presented awards to cab drivers that had helped improve safety on Toronto streets. It also had a strong impact on improving the often-tenuous relationships between the cab industry, the city, and police.
My favourite Taxis on Patrol (“TOPS”) story was of a driver who saw a woman being beaten by a man on the street. He swerved to the curb and threw open his front door: the woman jumped in, he auto-locked the doors and just kept driving.
In our most famous file, a driver had a mother in the back seat whose fevered baby had gone into convulsions. The driver contacted dispatch who contacted 911 who walked the driver through every step to restore the baby to consciousness – we actually got permission to release the dramatic 911 tape of that event, and when it was played for Metro Council, several of the councillors were crying at the end of it. The baby lived.
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Court proceedings against individuals charged with operating fake truck driving schools have been delayed again, this time to June 7th, 2023.
In Ottawa criminal court on May 24th, Justice Grant was told by counsel for three of the four accused that they were seeking a delay of three weeks because “Counsel is having trouble meeting with the clients to decide which witnesses to call.”
Upon hearing this, Crown Attorney L. Welch remarked, “This file is already pretty old.”
Uber’s announcement that riders can now summon a car by making a voice call from a telephone confirms that it was a Taxi company all along, industry members say. “They have been a Taxi company all the way along, from
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Giorgio Mammoliti promised that if elected Toronto’s mayor, he will end open entry for Vehicles for Hire and make his first phone call to Doug Ford and tell him to “fix Taxi insurance.”
Mammoliti was speaking at an event organized for members of the Taxi industry in a North York banquet hall on May 15th.
Mayoralty candidate Giorgio Mammoliti will host a Taxi industry event May 15th at 7pm. The event will take place at 55 Barber Greene Road in the Don Mills area of North York.
Mammoliti told Taxi News “It’s time to focus on family, faith, and the future of Toronto. The Taxi industry was treated very badly by Toronto in recent years, and it’s time to look forward to building a whole new future for those who have invested in this industry.”
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Given my early-and-often positive experiences with Toronto cab drivers,
it’s probably not surprising I ended up working with the industry for much of my adult life.
The drivers, brokerage owners, and fleet managers are truly the salt of the Earth.
New payment options for passenger and commercial accounts will use transponders, prepaid amount accounts, cash, credit and debit cards and the use of a mobile app The majority of users of the Gordie Howe bridge are expected to be commercial
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