The Uber drama continues at City Hall! Toronto city council is discussing how it should move forward with its cap on rideshare licences after being sued by Uber Canada.
Earlier this week, Uber Canada announced itis suing the city over the cap. The rideshare company says limiting thelicences is illegal and would be harmful to the company.
Toronto’s solicitor has reportedly warned that Toronto could lose this lawsuit if councillors don’t take action.
READ MORE: Uber is suing Toronto over its decision to freeze rideshare driver licences
“Without action by Council, Uber is likely to succeed in establishing that Council’s decision does not satisfy the legal test that has been applied by the courts in prior cases. If so, the court will quash the bylaw,” reads a briefing from the City Solicitor, obtained by CTV.
The rideshare licence cap is related to the city’s plans to transition the rideshare industry to be more eco friendly, with the goal of having all vehicles be zero-emission by 2030. Rideshare licences are capped at around 52,000 until at least the end of 2024.
On Wednesday, city council met for its last meeting of the year to review and discuss a report from the city’s solicitor on legal advice and further instructions in response to the lawsuit.
UBER LAWSUIT
Uber has previously released a statement on the rideshare licence cap saying that their services are needed more now than ever before.
“At a time when local residents no longer have access to rapid transit, Mayor Chow’s arbitrary rideshare cap will negatively impact them most,” the statement reads.
“With fewer drivers on the road for the increased demand, wait times will increase and prices will go up.”
The company claims that following the Scarborough RT derailment and permanent closure of the line this summer, it has seen more people in Scarborough using Uber to get around the city, and to connect with the subway and GO transit from Kennedy station.
The company claims that since the derailment on July 24, Uber trips in Scarborough increased 72 per cent more than trips in Toronto proper. Meanwhile, Uber claims trips to and from Kennedy Station increased by 29 per cent in the same time period.
TTC DISPUTES UBER CLAIMS
Now Toronto reached out to the Toronto Transit Commission to see if it had any data to support Uber’s claims that rideshare requests have increased since the July closure of the Scarborough RT. TTC spokesperson Stuart Green says that the numbers do not add up.
“In fact, in reviewing the heat map they released, it does not overlap with transit ridership patterns that make any sense of this claim,” Green said in a statement on Wednesday.
“It seems speculative, or at best wishful thinking, for them to make any connections between perceived useage increase with changes in TTC service.”
TORONTONIANS SPEAK OUT
In the time since Toronto announced it would be capping rideshare licences, people online have shared their thoughts, with many feeling like this will make the struggle to get around the city even worse.
“To curb congestion? This was nothing more than a move to appease all the bicycle whiners downtown. There are a lot more ways @cityoftoronto @MayorOliviaChow can “MOVE” traffic,” wrote one X user. “Start by fixing all the pathetic traffic light timing sequences everywhere in the entire city.”
“Leave UBER alone! This city is a mess TTC wise. Construction! Some people use UBER for work, appointments, family who are elderly/sick,UBER is our best option,” someone else commented.
“You’re just going to rise the UBER prices! Have you no heart? @oliviachow.”
“The only way to deal with emission is to make the public transport service very efficient, reliable and (safe). Province, cities are not willing to do this, instead, they are after people’s reliable alternative to bad transit service.”
While others feel this was the right move.
“Purely anecdotal, but I’m sick of the traffic and congestion caused by Uber and Lyft. There are time where I’m certain a majority of the downtown traffic is just cause by ride share drivers roaming around waiting for the next pick up. So I’m not surprised by this action,” one person posted to Reddit.
“As a former driver, I support & appreciate the initiative by the mayor. It is the right move. Uber destroyed thousands of driver’s lives including mine. The company needs to learn to respect the people who work for it. Limited number of drivers means, value the ones you have,” shared another person on X.
And some even offered alternative suggestions for the city.
“Deal with concerns about Uber through taxation,” One X user said.
“If the objective is to encourage people to use transit and cause less harm to environment, then put a special surcharge on all ride-shares including taxis of say 15% and redirect those funds 100% to invest in the TTC.”
“Such a waste of resources @MayorOliviaChow . Why not instead ask @Uber to commit to converting to hybrid vehicles over time. Uber could assist their drivers financially with a longer driving commitment to convert also. This is a waste to taxpayers”
