Taxi group proposes interim cap at 16,650 VFH

While population grew 11 per cent, VHFs grew 1182 per cent

Toronto should cap the number of Vehicles for Hire (VFH) permitted to work on city streets at 16,650, a group of Taxi industry managers have recommended. This cap should serve at least for an interim period of time while Toronto establishes more permanent systems for ideal measurement.

Abdul Mohamoud, CEO of Co-op Cabs; Kristine Hubbard, General Manager of Beck Taxi; and Gurjeet Dhillon, Vice President of Scarborough City Taxi and Toronto1 Taxi have worked together over a period of weeks to create a set of joint recommendations to Toronto’s Vehicle for Hire (VFH) review which were forwarded to the City of Toronto on July 18th, 2024.

“License Limits,” which is Section 2 of the recommendations, addresses the open entry allowed to Private Transportation Company (PTC) vehicles in 2016 by noting that “By adding tens of thousands of vehicles to the fleet, unregulated ride-hailing has diluted driver income as fares must be spread across more drivers forcing active drivers to spend nearly half their time circulating around City streets looking for fares.

“While PTCs are allowed unlimited number of drivers (and therefore, vehicles), taxicabs have had a limit set on issuance of new licenses for decades. A regular review (we suggest at least twice a year) of how many vehicles-for-hire are required to serve the city’s population base should be implemented. An effective fleet size limit would ensure driver time is used more efficiently and make better use of limited road space.”

The letter goes on to note that Toronto must “consider how many vehicles-for-hire and drivers the system can responsibly support, balancing customers’ and drivers’ interests with active transportation, road safety, emissions reduction, and transit ridership goals.”

In fact, it only appeared to become evident to Councillors and Mayor Olivia Chow that the open entry Toronto’s market by former Mayor John Tory was having catastrophic impacts on traffic, gridlock, emissions and driver’s revenues during the fall, 2023 debate around use of electric vehicles to reduce emissions.

The Taxi groups suggests the appropriate number of licensed drivers and vehicles should be based on past practice.

“While the City is researching what overall fleet size could balance the interests of passengers, drivers, and the broader community, we offer two measures based on the City’s past efforts to balance these numbers.

“We know that in 2013, City studies determined that the fleet of 4849 vehicles and approximately 15,000 drivers was sufficient to deliver services to Torontonians within a nine-minute service window. We assume for these benchmarks that there should be no loss in the number of taxi licenses; taxi licenses should not be cancelled under this program (and indeed be allowed to increase within the cap once demand recovers); any reduction in PTC driver numbers can be accomplished by attrition.

Between 2013 and 2023, the City’s population grew by about 11 per cent. The total number of licensed drivers should proportionally increase to 16,650 (in full-time equivalents). With 6655 available taxi driver licenses, we should see the equivalent of just under 10,000 additional full-time equivalent licensed drivers to meet this goal.”

The recommendations, sent in the format of a letter, go on to note that “Major transit lines are about to be added into the mix, and the City has added bike and car share options for Torontonians to get around. The equivalent of 16,650 full-time drivers should be able to meet an improved service window as these transportation alternatives come online.”

City staff are expected to report to City Council on vehicles-for-hire by the end of 2024. The report is part of an ongoing comprehensive review of the framework and bylaw and will respond to several outstanding Council directives from 2021 to 2023.