Rideshare can’t have its cake and eat it, too

Cap on number of cars still needed

RE: Legalizing “active time” means no guarantee of minimum wage

That ridesharing operators seek to be paid when not engaged runs totally counter to how the cab biz works.  (Whether they like it or not, they are cabbies, disguised as ridesharing workers.) 

We never received a plug nickel while waiting for fares, and thought nothing of it.  Then again, the cab biz was effectively regulated back then, ensuring a balance between the number of calls and the number of cabs. 

In a totally unregulated world, no such balance exists, thus pitting thousands of drivers against one another in an attempt to eke out a living.  The answer lies not in being paid for time spent between trips, but rather, in regulating the number of affiliated Uber and Lyft operators. 

The two companies cannot have their cake and eat it too.  Either they pay their drivers for the entire time while engaged, or they accept a limit on the number of cars.

Peter Pellier, Mississauga