“I’m very keen to find out how can we address it and how can we fix it, because Council has given direction on two occasions and on two occasions, we have now seen staff not just ignore the direction but simply reverse the direction on their own at their discretion, which is a problem.”
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48 hours before today’s Council meeting, Licensing staff have submitted a fulsome “supplement” to the original report, containing loads of information and opinion that should have been before Committee on November 30th.
Now, the full Toronto City Council is supposed to waste everybody’s time debating a staff report that was intended to be written and submitted to Licensing Committee months ago? What was the point of the Committee meeting? Will Toronto wait another two years to launch its driver training program, already the subject of a lawsuit in one tragic death?
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On December 9th, the Ontario Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee (OWRAC) released its report on the future of work, with recommendations that a “gig workers” category be created. These workers would not have full employee rights but will be offered a different package of benefits and less protection.
“I don’t think Ontarians realize how bad this will be for everyone,” says long-time Uber driver and activist Earla Phillips. “Instead of having employers move toward offering equal protections to everyone, Ontario workers can expect to see their employers now trying to ‘gig-ify’ their jobs. This is bad news for everyone.”
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Ontario has now published a standardized price list which consumers can view. For now, the price list applies to towing companies working as part of the Restricted Tow Zone Pilot.
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In a landmark ruling, the United Kingdom’s High Court Administrative Court has refused Uber London’s application to declare its controversial gig-economy business model lawful.
Uber, despite the Supreme Court worker rights ruling, sought a declaration from the High Court that it is lawful for Uber’s drivers to continue to contract directly with Uber’s passengers for transport services. Uber argued that its role was confined merely to that of an internet booking agent and that it was not a party to any contract for the provision of transport.
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On December 13th, Ontario will launch its pilot project to introduce “restricted towing zones” on sections of provincial highways in an effort to clear incidents such as collisions or vehicle breakdowns more safely and quickly.
“The ongoing violence in the towing industry is unacceptable, which is why our government is taking action to make the towing industry safer through strengthened oversight and standards,” said Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation. “Ontario’s towing industry is a vital service on our roads and highways every day, and these actions will help to improve safety for all drivers.”
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After the meeting, Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said in a press release, “Early in 2019, staff formed a small team to look into the bylaw review and removed the motion from the regular reporting list, with a plan to report back to council on progress. That report back didn’t happen. While we have heard that the key reasons for Burlington Taxi’s closure – high insurance rates and insufficient number of drivers – are unrelated to the bylaw review requested in 2018, we acknowledge that review should have occurred. It didn’t, and for that, we take responsibility.”
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“There’s something called the Bang and Olufsen effect, which is the actual amount of expenditure to achieve the last 5 per cent of benefit. For every person to be served within a certain time, every single vehicle out there needs to be a PTC or for a taxi. So, to highlight the effect of serving everybody in a very precise timescale avoids and ignores the conflict between other traffic and the provision of PTCs. It’s not always possible to achieve particular service levels.
“That was a finding that we see over and over again, the numbers of vehicles create required for service levels of a particular type will in and of themselves create significant harm by their presence, not just with emissions, but things like avoidable accidents.”
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Toronto Council’s decision to pause issuing new license to rideshare drivers until its mandated training program is implemented was supported at the November 30 Licensing Committee meeting.
Item GL27.19 was debated by General Government and Licensing Committee and was adopted with amendments. It will be considered by City Council on December 15, 2021.
While speakers Jake Brockman from Uber Canada and Andrew Murie of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) offered deputations warning that pausing licensing of new rideshare drivers would increase wait times for passengers during the holiday season, Councillor Wong-Tam pointed out that at six minutes, their standard for service is equal to or faster than the service standard for ambulances.
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