Ground transportation review to “branch out” in the new year
AODA compliance, passenger safety, driver earnings industry issues
The province of Ontario’s review of the ground transportation framework announced in the Fall Economic Statement “will branch out in the new year,” Ministry of Transportation staff indicate.
“We are currently consulting with stakeholder groups and will branch out province-wide in the new year,” MTO media relations advisor Julia Caslin told Taxi News in an email on December 1st.
To date, neither the Canadian Taxi Association nor the Rideshare Drivers’ Association of Ontario have yet been contacted by the Ontario government with regard to the proposed new framework.
In the November 6th Fall Economic Statement, in a Chapter 1 section entitled “Building Transit,” one paragraphs reads:
“Ontario is working to engage with rideshare operators, the taxi sector, and municipalities to explore the standardization of rideshare guidelines across the province. Rules for rideshare programs, such as application fees and driver screening requirements, are currently managed by individual municipalities, resulting in differing standards across the province. By consulting on potential approaches for a provincial rideshare framework, the government continues to support an integrated and efficient transportation network that will improve access for everyone, including rural and remote communities such as those along the Northlander route.”
The Canadian Taxi Association has posted a statement to its website indicating that any review must make passenger safety a priority and involve police and law enforcement agencies.
“The Canadian Taxi Association welcomes a review of Ontario’s ground transportation framework, which includes passenger safety, consumer protection, crime prevention, and law enforcement, and which bases decisions on evidence,” CTA’s statement reads.
“Ontario’s law enforcement agencies and justice ministries MUST be engaged-partners in any review – not bystanders.
Every form of ground transportation – taxis, limousines, and U.S.-based app companies – now uses apps. Innovation cannot be an excuse to dilute crime-prevention and public-safety duties for any operator, including our own members.”
CTA president Marc Andre Way tells Taxi News that compliance with Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) must also receive far more attention that it has since its proclamation. “American corporations have been allowed access to Ontario’s market while completely ignoring the AODA. They must come into compliance, and Ontario is the correct entity to ensure that happens.”
George Wedge, president of the Rideshare Drivers’ Association of Ontario, told Taxi News that the review must include discussion of both driver earnings and a single transferrable license.
“We think that it is the wrong that if the province is going to accept that these corporations are part of an industry, it exempts them from the Employment Standards Act. Ontario will have to tie it into the Employment Standards Act and not create some kind of ad hoc niche for them. You can’t allow specific corporations to ignore the Act for the benefit of their industry, and to exploit the workers.”
