Chow asks Labour minister to re-examine Bill 88
“Engaged time” concept skews perception of earnings
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has written Ontario’s Labour Minister David Piccini to ask that Bill 88, the “Working for Workers Act,” be re-opened and reconsidered before it comes into effect in July, 2025.
“While Bill 88 cites the minimum wage for engaged time at the current minimum wage (which at present is $17.20 per hour), the reality is that most driver’s hourly wage get wiped out by their costs…leaving them well below the standard your government sets,” Chow writes in a letter obtained by Taxi News.
“Today the City of Toronto released a report which outlines a troubling reality which drivers working for a Private Transportation Company (PTC) face. The median driver hourly wage after expenses is less than $6, much less than the provincial minimum wage.”
The report to which Chow refers in the letter is the Analysis of Driver Wages in the Vehicle-for-Hire Industry, prepared by Dr. Mischa Young from the Université de l’Ontario Français and Dr. Steven Farber and Dr. Mashrur Rahman from the University of Toronto, who were retained to complete an assessment of the vehicle-for-hire industry to inform Council about the current state of driver wages.
Drs. Young and Farber found that after driver expenses including fuel, insurance, depreciation, maintenance, repairs, financing, fees and taxes are accounted for, the median driver net earnings were $7.94 per hour in 2023 and $5.97 per hour in 2024 when accounting for all time spent on the platform.
Their analysis of driver wages was released at the same time Licensing and Standards staff released the 2024 Review of the Vehicle-for-Hire By-Law and Industry, which recommends that combined total of 85,901 Vehicle for Hire (VFH) drivers be licensed to work in Toronto. The Taxi industry advised that a total of 16,650 VFH should be licensed, while the Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario suggested 40,000. Both groups believe oversupply of VFH drivers is a significant factor in depressed earnings.
