Passenger safety, consumer protection absent from VFH review
“It’s a disappointment” after recent Peel sexual assaults, CTA says
The words “consumer” and “protection” are no where to be found in Toronto’s new Vehicle for Hire (VFH) recommendations. “Passenger safety” is also missing.
Taxi News ported the text of Toronto’s December 3rd 2024 Review of the Vehicle-for-Hire By-Law and Industry into a searchable word processing program in order to locate the sections most pertinent to the requests made by Mayor Chow and Council and the objectives of the review.
The “Guiding Principles” provided to Gladki Associates at the launch of public stakeholder sessions included:
- Protect public safety and consumer protection
- Enable choice within Toronto’s transportation sector
- Create opportunity for fair competition
However, the words “protect,” “public,” “consumer,” and “safety” returned zero search results as phrases and also as individual words.
“The absence of any discussion of public safety and consumer protection comes as a real disappointment,” says Marc Andre Way, president of the Canadian Taxi Association.
“In November, there were three instances of sexual assault in Peel and York Regions by a man presenting himself as a rideshare driver to young women at transit shelters. We are currently working very hard on strengthening industry standards for visual identifiers including Taxi roof lights and rideshare decals for the very purpose of improving public safety and consumer protection.
“As a leader in Canada’s Vehicle for Hire environment, we had hoped Toronto would mention public safety at the very least, and commit to exploring improvements in a better case. I hope this oversight will be addressed.”
The word “choice” also does not appear; “competition” also returned zero results. The word “Insurance” is absent from the document.
