David Kawai, Centretown News
Uber Canada general manager Ian Black faces reporters after city council voted to legalize private transportation companies.The ride-hailing app Uber will soon legally operate in Ottawa after city council voted 23-1 Wednesday to legalize private transportation companies. After several hours of spirited debate, only Coun. Eli El-Chantiry opposed the passing of the bylaw.
However, Amrik Singh, president of the local taxi union, says the union is “heavily considering” launching a lawsuit against the city in hopes of receiving some compensation for their taxi plates.
“We will not allow anyone to beat us and then tell us not to cry,” Singh said at a committee meeting last week.
Dozen of cabbies including Said Roukoz, a BlueLine Taxi driver, say they are upset with the new regulations, because they believe it favours Uber drivers. Singh says the city is creating a double standard for a company that provides the same service as a taxi, but brands itself differently.
Council’s decision comes after two lengthy and heated days of discussions at the community and protective services committee meetings held last week. Councillors heard from nearly 50 public delegations – most of whom were taxi drivers – and discussed the city’s proposed recommendations to regulate vehicles-for-hire in Ottawa.
The city is the second Canadian municipality to pass an Uber-friendly bylaw, which will come into effect starting Sept. 30.
“If we are going to remain an innovative city, we cannot ignore new technologies and ways of doing business,” Mayor Jim Watson wrote in an email to councillors.
Committee chair Diane Deans says the new bylaw will allow the taxi industry to “modernize, innovate and compete” with companies such as Uber.
“It is clear that the taxi industry needs to change,” Deans says. “Change is never easy (but) the industry needs fewer regulations and more competition.”
If the taxi industry embraces these changes, “the dire predictions of doom and gloom will not come to pass,” Deans said Wednesday.
According to Uber’s general manager Ian Black the ride-hailing app has serviced more than 100,000 app users and recruited approximately 2,000 drivers since the company drove its way into the Ottawa market in October 2014.
Since then taxi business has dropped by 40 per cent, Singh says. He is worried the new bylaw will put Ottawa’s 2,500 cabbies out of work, as they cannot compete with Uber’s prices.
According to a city report, an estimated fare for a 10-kilometre trip in a cab is about $23 whereas an Uber charges $11.50.
“People don’t care about the quality of the service they get in a cab, they just want cheaper prices,” says Roukoz.
Roukoz explains that in order to drive a cab in the city, a driver needs a city-issued plate.
Of the 1,188 taxi plates already issued, most are owned by a few industry players and are rented out to drivers, but there are single-plate owners such as Roukoz.
As a co-owner of a plate, Roukoz says he took out a second mortgage on his house to finance the plate that cost him nearly $210,000 in 2009. Now, with Uber dominating the market, he says his plate has no market value because no one is interested in buying or renting it.
He says if the city does not provide compensation for his loss, he will be forced to sell his house. Centretown News spoke to a dozen other cabbies who echoed the same concerns as Roukoz.
The city’s new bylaw will reduce the taxi driver license fee from $170 to $96; a license for an accessible cab will be free of charge. Cabbies will also no longer be required to undergo training at Algonquin College, unless they drive an accessible vehicle.
The bylaw will also eliminate the interior and trunk size requirements for vehicles and allows taxi companies to offer reduced fares when rides are booked through an app.
Taxis will hold exclusive use of taxi stands and lanes, and only cabbies will be allowed to accept cash payments from passengers.
In addition to an annual licensing fee of $7,253, Uber will be charged an extra 11 cents per ride, to help cover the cost of inspections and enforcement.
All drivers of vehicles-for-hire will need a minimum $2-million liability insurance and must undergo a police record check. Private transportation companies will provide the city with an up-to-date list of all drivers and their information such as insurance coverage details, confirmations of police record check and license plate information.
Councillors have repeatedly asked Uber to cease operations until the bylaw comes into effect in September. Black told the media the company is supportive of the bylaw but said on April 12 that it would not cease operations.
Deans says the city will continue to crackdown on Uber drivers if they continue to operate illegally. But this isn’t enough for Ottawa’s taxi drivers.
“Uber is a company that has been working illegally in the city for months,” Hanif Patni, president of taxi dispatch company Coventry Connections, said at an earlier committee meeting. “Instead of punishing them, (the city) is rewarding them.”
“Our people have been working for the last 25 years,” Singh says. “You cannot destroy their lifelong savings, in one moment. We don’t think that fairness was served.”