Tory calls for single bylaw covering both Uber and taxi companies

Mayor John Tory said Monday he wants city council to rewrite bylaws to create a level playing field for taxi drivers – and that it has to be done quickly.

“What we need is one bylaw that applies to everybody,” Tory said, stressing that Uber would fall under the new guidelines.

“Uber X is operating outside of the current law and that is not sustainable.”

He spoke after meeting with officials from the taxi industry and the ride share company at City Hall.

The meeting, the first time all three parties have met, was organized after a Superior Court judge dismissed the city’s attempt to shut down the ride-hailing app.

Tory said the ruling shows that council has the power to re-write the bylaws to regulate new technologies that have entered the marketplace.

The mayor said the process of modernizing taxi bylaws will begin quickly and will apply to everyone including Uber. He said he hopes to have the bylaw before council by the fall.

“We need to level the playing field,” Tory said at a news conference. “We need to have everybody who wishes to participate in this industry doing so within the law, and that means the law is going to have to be changed. And it is going to be changed in such a way that makes sure we have fair competition.”

Tory said the bylaws are outdated, and it is “not acceptable” that taxis are not operating on a level playing field with Uber.

He said the start of the process is for all sides to work together, and he is hopeful today’s meeting with Uber and the taxi representatives is the first of many to come.

With the Pan Am games due to start Friday – before new bylaws could be created – Tory said there would be “some level of enforcement” for Uber drivers and taxi drivers during the games.

Cab drivers had planned to disrupt the games, but Tory said he had received assurances from the taxi industry that the planned protest wouldn’t happen, provided that existing bylaws are enforced.

 

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