Toronto City Hall Photo: toronto.ca The Accessible Fund whereby one segment of the industry is MADE to pay for another is just insane By Andy Réti For over 30 years, I was making deputations at City Hall in the mistaken belief that just “this time
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Freeland's resignation letter as tweeted December 16, 2024. Image: X Canada’s Finance Minister posts open letter on X resigning her portfolio “Dear Prime Minister, It has been the honour of my life to serve in government, working for Canada and Canadians. We have accomplished a lot together. On Friday, you
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Photo: COP29 If they didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all The twenty-ninth edition of the U.N. Climate Change Committee’s annual “Conference of the Parties,” also known as COP29, wrapped up recently, and I must say, it seemed a
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A chance to rebuild the Vehicle for Hire industry feels like watching the sun rise on a new day. Photo: Taxi News All every Uber driver wants, is what every Taxi driver once had. Everything Taxi drivers ever had and fought for – a living wage; some job security; transparent dealings with regulators and customers; and traffic congestion that is at least
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Earla Phillips and other members of Rideshare Drivers of Ontario held a press conference at Toronto City Hall on December 14th, 2023 to express their support for Toronto Council as it works to identify an improved system of licensing rideshare vehicles. There are too many people driving for money at present, Phillips says, which makes it difficult for anyone to earn a living wage. Photo: RDAO A.I.-driven pricing and pay is bad for drivers and customers With the release of its December 2024 report on “algorithmic pay,” the Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario makes three recommendations: Introduction to the Rideshare Drivers’ Association of Ontario December, 2024
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Toronto's Hockey Hall of Fame. Is a city judged by the grandiosity of its buildings, or the industriousness of its workers? Photo: HHOF 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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Health warning label: attempting to read the VHS Review in one sitting may cause dizzy spells and blurred vision. Image: Taxi News Ensure eternal angst by freezing the number exactly where it is Let’s be real: 85,000 VFH represents no ‘cap’ at all; it’s just a language game…You could permit 500,000 or a million licenses and call that a ‘cap,’ too, if
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Image: TTC Among the changes being suggested as part of the 2024 Vehicle for Hire Review is allowing Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAVs) now under contract to Wheel-Trans be allowed to service on-demand calls and to receive the proposed $15 or $25 incentive.
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Uber appears to have magical powers which prevent otherwise intelligent Toronto officials from noticing the Elephant in the Room. Image: Cartoon Bob for Taxi News How can Toronto solve the problem of oversupply by ignoring it? Dear Councillor Pasternak, I am writing to you today to urge you to vote against adopting the most recent Vehicle for Hire (VFH) Staff report. It offers no solutions
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