Friday, November 1, 2024

Author: Rita Smith

NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Cheques for Accessible Taxi drivers actually are in the mail: L&S

Eligible Accessible Taxi drivers in Toronto have begun receiving cheques in payment from the Accessibility Fund Program.

Taxi News contacted Toronto’s media office as well as its Freedom of Information office on October 11th to confirm complaints from a group of 30 Accessible drivers who were still waiting for payment of their 2020 funds. Beck driver Mohsen Holway had alerted Taxi News to the fact that hundreds of drivers who delivered Accessible service were waiting and wondering when their payments would arrive.

Read More
Feature/Profile

500 turkeys delivered over two days: a real Turkey Trot

After two crazy-busy days and 500 turkey deliveries, Beck driver Mohsen Holway made it home to his own family with a fresh turkey and a giant “thank you” from turkey drive volunteers.

“Mohsen was amazing!” GTA TurkeyDrive organizer Jennifer Evans told Taxi News. “And not just the fact that he physically loaded and unloaded 500 turkeys over two longs days. He was very creative, directing some of the other volunteers, getting the turkeys loaded and working around problems. He was incredible.”

Read More
Opinion/Column

Back to the future as Toronto Council chooses mean streets over consumer protection

In 2019, after the death of Nicholas Cameron in an Uber with an untrained driver, Toronto Council directed staff to reinstate a driver testing and training program. While staff blame COVID for the fact that no training program has yet been launched, 40,000 new professional drivers were licensed without testing during this period.

This is worth re-stating: Toronto Council directed staff to design and implement a training program 27 months ago. No action has been taken: no program designed, no Request for Proposals issued to training suppliers, no outreach to Centennial College, which already offers Taxi driver training.

Read More
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Uber lobbies every Toronto Councillor as uber-late training Motion delayed again

“Uber lobbyists were back with a vengeance in September, with the ride share company logging 53 communications and winning the month. Uber Canada’s Manager for Public Policy Jake Brockman logged emails to every member of Council. Lobbyist-for-hire Kim Wright was also working on Uber’s behalf in September…Mandatory training for Toronto Uber drivers and other vehicle-for-hire drivers was supposed to start in 2020, but was delayed because of COVID-19.”

Read More
Opinion/ColumnRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

By-law written for rideshare companies is not working for rideshare drivers: protest today at Uber head office

Staff at the City of Toronto  are currently developing an update report to the General Government and Licensing Committee in November. The report is intended to speak to work completed since the last Vehicle-for-Hire Bylaw Review and outstanding Council directives (including a driver training program that is now two years late). 

Ironically, as this report is being written, drivers for the corporation which motivated virtually all of the changes to Toronto’s taxi regulatory in 2016 are now protesting that very entity, Uber. 

Read More
NewsTaxi industry news

Two year delay in driver training program blamed on COVID while 40,000 new drivers hit Toronto streets

“Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, driver training for the vehicle-for-hire industry remains delayed.”

City Councillor Krystin Wong-Tam told CTV news, “I do not believe COVID-19 is a legitimate reason, largely because this Council Direction came back in 2019. We know that it was very important to City Council. We did say to City Staff ‘Get this done.’”

Read More
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Sept 28 UBERSTRIKE protest demands more traditional regulatory framework

Uber and Lyft drivers in Toronto are organizing to support the September 28th international strike for better working conditions. Drivers are being asked to log off of their apps, and passengers are being asked to take a taxi, a shuttle or a bus on “APPS OFF” day around the globe.

Members of the taxi industry note that the regulatory framework Uber drivers  are asking for is essentially the system that existed before Toronto re-wrote its by-law in 2016.

Read More