Uber to apply for Toronto taxi brokerage licence on Tuesday: report

Uber is reportedly set to apply for a Toronto taxi brokerage licence on Tuesday, as the City of Toronto seeks a court injunction to shut down Uber’s operations in the city over safety concerns.

The company, which connects riders with drivers through a smartphone app, told the Toronto Star it will request a licence for its taxi service, but not for its unregulated UberX service, which has regular drivers transporting people in their private cars.

It is also not seeking a licence for UberBlack and Uber SUV, the Star reports.

On Tuesday, Kristine Hubbard, the operations manager of Beck Taxi, told 680 NEWS UberX is trying to “trick people into thinking that they’re becoming legit.”

“[…] When the reality is they’re a bandit cab service, as I like to call it, which is all it really is,” Hubbard said.

“Known as UberX, they are not licencing that and they will still continue to try to take customers out of legal licensed taxis.”

Hubbard told said she’s stunned that politicians don’t see the impact on the industry with thousands of unlicensed drivers on the road.

“When taxi drivers are going to Licensing and Standards and in those officers are asking, why am I paying you to renew my licence, why am I paying the highest licensing fees in the world when I’m being threatened that my business is going to be taken away and has been openly for months by an illegal taxi service. How do they justify that,?” Hubbard questioned.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Mayor John called on city council to address the issue between taxi companies and Uber.

“Take account of the needs of the travelling public, to have better technology, more convenient service, more affordable service, and you find a way to do that, which takes into account the Ubers and the lifts, and the taxi business, and newer concepts like ride-sharing and says this is the new reality of the 21st Century,” Tory said.

“Let’s sit down together and find a way that we can make our regulations modern, so that we benefit the travelling public.”

Uber has been offering its services in Toronto since 2012, and now includes UberX and UberBlack.

The company has been slapped with dozens of Toronto bylaw infractions since it launched. In March, 11 UberX drivers were nailed for driving without proper insurance in a police sting.

With files from Melissa Duggan

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