In 2016, Mayor John Tory intervened with his own Motion to re-write the City’s Taxi by-law, providing ride-hailing companies with lenient new standards more to their liking. Five years later, in 2021, he has done exactly the same thing in
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December 18th update: Durham Region Transit has suspended operation of its “self-driving” shuttle project following an incident on December 16th. Photos published by Durham Radio News showed the shuttle had jumped a curb and hit a tree.
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The first order of business at Toronto Council on December 17th will be discussion of MUD: micro-utility devices.
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“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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The Canadian Taxi Association (CTA) and Toronto’s Airport Taxi Association (ATA) are supporting Senate Bill S-209, “An Act Respecting Pandemic Observance Day,” introduced by independent Senator Marie-Francoise Mégie of Rougemont.
Both Taxi industry groups are asking Senator Mégie to give special recognition to Taxi drivers, as at least 12 Taxi drivers are known to have died as a result of early contact with COVID-19 in 2020.
”We can confirm that 12 Airport Taxi members contracted COVID and died in the early months of the pandemic,” says ATA president Raninder Singh. “Most of them were picking up passengers from the same cruise ship, and those passengers returned infected with COVID-19.”
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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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