Sunday, June 1, 2025
Taxi News & Road Warrior News
Rental bike, hacked and abandoned on the street in the UK. Photo: Twitter
Delivery/Courier newsMedia releaseNewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Is bike rental system actually working? UK city asks

RWN Staff

Westminster City Council is calling for dockless bike companies to crack down on hackers, in a media release published April 13th in the United Kingdom. Similar complaints have been made about rental bikes and scooters in U.S. cities.

Videos circulating across social media demonstrate how to bypass the dockless bike software and use bikes for free.

Concerns have been raised that riders using hacked bikes are untraceable, meaning the users can potentially dump bikes on the pavement without facing punishment and could even be involved in antisocial behaviour.

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Photo: LinkedIn
NewsTrucking

Transport Canada among services at risk of service interruption during possible strikes, labour action

RWN Staff

On April 12th, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has received a strike mandate from members in the Program and Administrative Services, Operational Services, Technical Services, and Education and Library Science bargaining groups, which collectively represent more than 120,000 federal government workers employed by Treasury Board.  

While the Government of Canada states that it is “committed to negotiating collective agreements that are fair for employees and reasonable for taxpayers,” bargaining groups representing approximately 159,000 public servants are in a legal strike position. In the event of a labour disruption, certain services may be affected.

Transport Canada says that essential services would be maintained during labour disruptions, but there may be impacts, such as delays in accessing points of service. The department would continue to respond to any transportation safety, security or environmental incident.

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February 2023 work on the "Gordie Howe Bridge" progresses. Photo: WDBA
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry newsTrucking

Update on “Gordie Howe Bridge” at May 4th Hamilton event

Rita Smith

The Hamilton Transportation Club (HTC) is pleased to announce that its Spring Address is scheduled on May 4, 2023, with a special update on the status of the new “Gordie Howe International Bridge guest speaker Heather Grondin, vice president of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

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Purolator is 91 per cent owned by Canada Post. Photo: RWN
Delivery/Courier newsNews

COVID shot no longer necessary as Purolator calls suspended employees back to work

Rita Smith

Purolator Canada has “suspended” its COVID-19 shot requirement effective May 1st.

In November, 2022, Purolator demanded workers who had been suspended the previous January file an “attestation letter” regarding their COVID shot status. Some workers filed the letter, and others did not. Employees suspended without pay protested, maintaining they were “healthy and ready to work.” At least one of the employees who helped organize protests events was terminated.

An April 13th email titled “Message from Ken Johnston” headlined “Purolator suspends COVID-19 vaccination requirement for all employees” was sent to all employees in Canada and notes that it does not apply to employees in the U.S.

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Controlled burn. Photo: Wikipedia
Media releaseNewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

You may see smoke around TO’s High Park April 13

Guest Contributor

The City of Toronto will conduct a prescribed burn in High Park on April 13, as current forecasts predict optimal weather conditions. High Park will be closed to vehicles starting at 7 a.m. and will be reopened once smoke has dissipated, likely by early evening. Public access around the burn sites and some surrounding areas will be temporarily restricted for safety.

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Ottawa contains numerous historic neighbourhoods and municipalities. Source: Ontario.ca
Feature/ProfileRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Ottawa’s “supply management” system for Taxis

Guest Contributor

Before amalgamation, the former municipalities of Ottawa, Cumberland, Gloucester, Kanata, Nepean and Vanier all regulated taxis. The former City of Ottawa had a fixed number of plates based on population. In 1969, the old City of Ottawa assumed control of regulation of the taxi industry from the police commission. In doing so, it enacted By-law L-1 and introduced a limit on the number of taxi plates that may operate. In 1971, the old City of Ottawa enacted By-law L-6, which authorized the transfer and selling of plates as commercial transactions.

Other municipalities, like the City of Vanier, did not limit the number of plates. Yet other municipalities did not regulate the industry at all.

The municipalities that had no plate limits experienced problems with the oversupply of plates. For example, Vanier introduced plate limits in the mid-1990s because the over-supply of plates was problematic.

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Susan Jones in media scrum regarding Uber's arrival in Ottawa in 2014. She told them to apply for a Taxi brokerage license. Photo: YouTube
Feature/ProfileGuest ContributionsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Uber lobbied Ottawa aggressively “from day one”

Guest Contributor

City did not know where to find Uber. However, Uber introduced itself to City Hall as soon it began operating in Ottawa, and the City rolled out the welcome mat. Uber lobbied City Hall continuously and aggressively from September 2014 up to the by-law change in April 2016, and well afterward.

Uber Canada had six registered lobbyists active between September 2014 and April 2016. According to the City’s lobbying registry, officials from the City met with two city councillors and city staff, including Susan Jones, on September 22, 2014. This was 3 days after Uber’s recruiting event at the Westin Hotel. After this meeting, Susan Jones stated that Uber was welcome to operate in Ottawa so long as it obtained a broker’s license.

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Ottawa City Hall Photo: Wikimedia Commons
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Ottawa’s response to Uber was “chaotic and unplanned”

Guest Contributor

“Uber” refers to multiple affiliated corporations incorporated in different jurisdictions, including Uber B.V., Raiser Operations B.V., Uber Canada Inc. and/or Uber Technologies Inc. In affiliation with each other, these corporations carry on business with an electronic software application and license businesses in relation to facilitating private transportation services for compensation through telecommunications platforms and/or a digital network.

Uber began operating in Ottawa in or around September 2014. Around that time, Uber accelerated its activities by launching campaigns to attract drivers to join its operation. The operation of Uber and its drivers directly contravened the unlicensed driving and dispatching provisions of the 2012 By-law.

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