Why Toronto has 4 times New York’s rideshares

U of T research study launched to help City figure it out

“New York has 77,000 rideshares with 9 million people, while Toronto has 95,000 rideshares with 3 million people,” Behrouz Khamseh told Taxi News after a meeting with both Licensing and Traffic staff in October. “Why? Does anyone ever ask why?”

In fact, staff stated in the meeting, the City is working with University of Toronto on an ongoing study which may result in information to help them decide whether or why Toronto needs four times as many rideshare vehicles per capita as New York does.

“The City of Toronto is participating in an ongoing research study with the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute, titled ‘Modelling and Analysis of VFH Services in Support of City of Toronto Policy Analysis,’ to supplement the City’s ongoing investigations into demand for vehicles-for-hire (VFH) and supply/performance in support of policy development on industry regulation and other topics. Outputs from this work will flow into future council reports on this topic to help City staff respond to outstanding Council directives related to the VFH industry,” Kate Lear, Communications Advisor, Media Relations & Issues Management Strategic Public and Employee Communications told Taxi News in an email on November 4th.

“While a specific date for the next staff report has not been established, staff continue to work towards addressing outstanding Council directives, as well as pursue operational improvements and data and public reporting advancements to meet the objectives of the vehicles-for-hire by-law and improve accessibility in the industry.”