Toronto council will once again debate whether or not they should file an injunction against UberX.
Coun. Jim Karygiannis put forth a motion today at a licensing and standards meeting asking council to consider the move when they meet next month.
A judge had previously stricken down the notion, ruling that the city’s bylaws didn’t account for new technologies like Uber.
But in October, Toronto updated their bylaws to include UberX and therefore rendering their taxi service illegal.
Since then, bylaw enforcement officers have cracked down on UberX drivers. According to a report in the Toronto Sun last week, a total of 122 bylaw charges have been laid against UberX drivers since Oct. 22. City officials also told CTV News on Wednesday that 96 charges have been filed against five different corporate Uber entities.
Karygiannis, an outspoken opponent of Uber, is hoping the courts will rule in favour of an injunction, which would effectively should the service down.
The councillor’s motion comes hours after Uber received a brokerage licence from the City of Toronto. The licence does not apply to the company’s UberX platform.
Uber applied for a brokerage licence for its Uber Taxi platform in May, however it did not seek to licence its UberX platform, where drivers use their own personal vehicles to pick up fares.
That platform has come under fire from conventional taxi drivers, who say it violates both city bylaws and a section of the Highway Traffic Act prohibiting drivers from picking up passengers for compensation unless they have a licence to do so.
The Uber Taxi platform, meanwhile, has not faced the same criticism as it only allows users to order and pay for conventional cabs using the app.
“This is another step towards our participation in a comprehensive regulatory solution that includes ridesharing,” Uber Canada said in a statement released Friday. “We will continue to work with the City of Toronto towards new regulations for ridesharing, which are expected in the coming months.
The City of Toronto is currently drafting new ground transportation regulations that are aimed at eliminating the competitive advantage currently enjoyed by Uber and at leveling the playing field for conventional cabs.
Speaking with CP24 on Friday, Sam Moini of the Toronto Taxi Alliance said Uber’s acquisition of a brokerage licence does little to dispel the frustration of taxi drivers who believe the company is flouting laws and threatening their livelihood.
“Nothing has changed at all. Getting a brokerage licence means you have to dispatch to licenced taxis only. We have no problem with any company coming in here and getting a brokerage licence and dispatching to licenced taxis, however Uber X is in clear violation of that,” he said. “I don’t know how they are going to have a brokerage licence and in the meantime dispatch to unlicenced unregulated vehicles. It just doesn’t add up.”
Kristine Hubbard of Beck Taxi says the news confirms Uber should have been considering a taxi firm and treated similarly by the city.
"This establishes what we've been saying all along, this is a taxi dispatch company. They are dispatching vehicles to pick people up and carry paying passengers."
But she added that fact Uber has obtained a brokerage license does not eliminate the unfair gap between the company and the rest of the city's taxi industry.
"If Beck connected you to an unlicensed vehicle we would be charged against our brokerage license."
