Editorial: Uber needs to embrace regulation or get out

By Maggie Parkhill

Things haven’t been going uber well for a popular ridesharing company.

Uber may be leaving Quebec over planned new regulations that would force drivers to complete 35 hours of training, leaving many local residents who frequently cross Ottawa-Gatineau’s bridges concerned they won’t be able to make full use of the service in the future.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre seemed wholly unconcerned about Uber’s threatened departure from Quebec.

“Bye-bye! I don’t care,” he said at a Sept. 26 press conference. Perhaps it’s time this city showed it would be willing to say “bye-bye” to Uber, as well.

In Ontario, training varies from city to city, with some Uber drivers going through no serious education or orientation at all. Resisting basic instruction for its employees is just the latest in a long line of controversies plaguing the company.

After its former CEO Travis Kalanick joined U.S. President Donald Trump’s business advisory council, a social media campaign urging users to #DeleteUber went viral. Kalanick found himself in hot water again when a video of a confrontation between the CEO and an Uber employee over the company’s compensation package was leaked online. Kalanick later resigned, but he recently installed two allies on Uber’s board to support him in an upcoming vote that could further limit his power in the company.

And now, the company is throwing a tantrum over 35 hours of mandatory training, which is only 15 more hours than current requirements in Quebec. The province’s officials have said the training could be split up or completed in part online.

The company says many of its employees work full time, and that 35 hours would be a barrier for them. The fact that teenagers log that much training to flip burgers betrays Uber’s true motives.

It’s really the employer — not the employees — balking at the proposed new rules. It’s clear that Uber doesn’t want to pay for employee training when the employee might not stick around for long.

Maybe driving a car has become so commonplace, so ordinary, that we forget the dangers of unsafe driving. But Uber drivers take our lives in their hands whenever they take us from point A to point B. A refresher on safe driving practices can only help, not hurt.

The proposed new regulations also include vehicle inspections and background checks. Again, it’s hard to see the downside here, or why the company would be opposed to changes designed to protect its employees and its passengers.

Ottawa, and all of Ontario, should follow suit, and here are some suggestions for any future city-mandated training.

Instruct Ottawa Uber drivers never to take Bronson Avenue. Not ever.

Give them a worksheet on avoiding at all costs the cars with red licence plates, which are frequently driven like they’re filming a scene in Fast and Furious.

Have a discussion on how not to harass or assault female passengers. Sadly, that’s a conversation we still need to have in 2017.

Tell them to watch out for cyclists. In Ottawa, we love our bikers, and we’ve lost too many of them in car collisions.

Uber has a history of balking at anything that doesn’t go its way, but Ottawa should put its foot down on this one. And if company officials decide to leave the capital because of it, bully for them.

We’re spending billions of dollars on new public transit options, which is the more environmentally-friendly travel option anyway. And there’s also our cab drivers, who face very stringent rules and mandated training developed precisely over many years to enhance the safety of the public and themselves. If they can do it, Uber can — and it must.

Enough of the coddling. Regulation is not the enemy — it saves lives.