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Beck Taxi’s operations general manager Kristine Hubbard has called city staff’s recommendation of capping rideshare drivers at just over 80,000 licences “absurd.”
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Hubbard said there are only 56,000 Uber and Lyft drivers in the city right now with no existing cap.
“They’re capping at the same number that New York City has at 10 times their population,” she said Tuesday after a report recommending the cap was released.
“Drivers are making $6 an hour at the same time as (staff is) proposing that 30,000 more of those should be added to our already congested streets. Nothing in this report makes sense.”
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The report said the cap, which aims to “limit further growth in the number of licensed PTC (private transportation company) drivers,” may be exceeded for those who operate zero-emission and wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
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City staff said the objective of the cap is to “mitigate the risk of worsening traffic congestion, increased emissions and impact to public transit use by ceasing further growth in the number of PTC drivers, while balancing considerations for driver equity and user mobility.”
However, Councillor Brad Bradford told reporters at city hall that he doesn’t think a cap is even “necessary.”
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“This is the only jurisdiction in the entire country that is contemplating a cap right now,” said Bradford.
“I think Torontonians are looking for more affordable ways to get around the city. They’re caught up in congestion in traffic. They want that convenience factor. And the city moving in on this, really, in the pursuit of an ideological agenda that has been so cooked throughout this mayor’s office, I don’t think that’s helpful in the long run.”
The report found that PTC drivers represent about 14.2% of all traffic within the downtown core, where traffic congestion is at its worst most days.
The city previously tried to introduce a cap on rideshare licences last year but resumed in December in the wake of a legal battle with Uber Canada.
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“It’s deja vu all over again,” said Uber Canada in a statement.
“It’s been a year and Mayor (Olivia) Chow is back to a cap on the number of rideshare drivers without any industry consultation or accurate data. Instead of focusing on the issues that matter to Torontonians, Mayor Chow is once again putting affordability, reliability and safety of an important transportation option at risk.”
If the cap is approved by city council, it would come into force “immediately” with the proposed bylaw amendments on the agenda at the Dec. 10 executive committee meeting.
Following that, if given the go-ahead, the recommendation would be up for final approval at the next city council meeting on Dec. 17.
In the meantime, Chow wrote a letter Tuesday to provincial Labour Minister David Piccini asking for fair wages for PTC workers.
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“The median driver hourly wage after expenses is less than $6, much less than the provincial minimum wage (of $17.20),” wrote Chow.
“PTC drivers are hurting in our city and across Ontario. We owe it to them as leaders to look for ways to improve their lives.”
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