No mention $15M per-trip fees in VFH report
“Staff cannot predict the how the recommended licensing cap would affect future PTC trip volumes“
While Toronto’s December 3rd 2024 Review of the Vehicle-for-Hire By-Law and Industry details $0.87 million in potential financial implications, it makes no reference to the millions of dollars in per-trip fees Toronto will continue to collect from Uber.
In 2023, the per-trip fees totalled $15,252,137.67 according to the City of Toronto. Whether or not the projected annual amount of fees to be collected under the proposed new rideshare total of 80,429 vehicles will change is not referenced in the report, which is scheduled to be considered by the Mayor’s Executive Committee on December 10, 2024.
According to the report, “As a proactive measure to mitigate further risk of increasing traffic congestion and emissions, and impact to public transit use, staff are proposing a licensing cap that would limit further growth in the number of licensed PTC drivers, with an exemption for zero emission and wheelchair accessible vehicles. The cap would result in projected annual foregone revenue of $0.87 million (based on an average net increase of roughly 3,000 PTC driver licences per month) from the two PTC driver licence fees: (1) the $16.94 PTC per driver fee; and (2) the $7.99 Accessibility Fund Program fee.
Licensing fees are based on a cost recovery model and therefore foregone revenue would have offset future cost (that will now be avoided) to administer the additional PTC driver licences.”
In response to Taxi News’ inquiry as to why the millions of dollars in per-trip fees paid to Toronto by Uber drivers were not mentioned in the report, Licensing and Standards provided this response:
“The licensing cap portion of the financial impact section outlines the recommended licensing cap’s projected impact on future revenues from annual fees for PTC drivers. The section omits revenue impact projections for the per-trip fee because staff cannot predict the how the recommended licensing cap would affect future PTC trip volumes.”
