Mississauga city council has put the brakes on Uber and other services like it for the time being.
On Wednesday afternoon, council voted 10-2 in favour of a motion that requires that all transportation companies “obtain a broker licence and operate using only licensed taxi and limousine drivers, operating licensed taxi and limousine vehicles.”
As a result services like UberX, wherein drivers use their own personal vehicles to pick up fares, are now illegal in Mississauga.
The vote comes just one week after Toronto city council backed a package of new ground transportation regulations that created a new licensing category for services like Uber.
In a staff report, the Commissioner of Transportation and Works Martin Powell for Mississauga pointed out that the city’s “taxi business is almost entirely dispatch-based,” making it particularly vulnerable to services like Uber, more so than in places like Toronto.
“Cities where taxis have done better, such as Toronto or San Francisco, are ones in which ridership is a mix of dispatch and on-street hail, particularly in downtown areas,” he states. “Licensed taxis have an advantage in such centres because of their clear markings and customer expectations.”
While UberX is now illegal in Mississauga, the service may not be banned indefinitely.
In a secondary motion on Wednesday, council also voted in favour of striking a committee to “develop the terms of reference for a limited one-year pilot program” that would determine how services like UberX “could operate within the Mississauga marketplace.”
Crombie told CP24 that the pilot program will serve as a “test drive, but under our rules, as they’re operating illegally in the city today.”
The motion passed by council renders services like UberX illegal immediately.
“If (rideshare companies) continue to operate here there won’t be a pilot program,” Crombie said. She added that bylaw enforcement officers in the city have laid 250 charges against UberX drivers, but so far none have been resolved in court.
She said that if rideshare companies want to continue operating in the city while the pilot program is set up, they can always purchase a brokerage license.
Uber spokesperson Susie Heath said in an email that the company is still reviewing what this decision by Mississauga city council means for them.
“We are currently reviewing today's vote in Mississauga and remain committed to work with the city to develop smart regulations for this new industry, as Toronto and Ottawa have recently done.”
Speaking with CTV News about the move on Wednesday afternoon, Toronto Mayor John Tory said Mississauga is allowed to make its own decisions. Tory, however, said that Toronto’s decision to legalize Uber was “pro-consumer, pro-competition and pro-safety.”
A petition launched on Change.org asks council to immediately reverse its decision and allow ridesharing services to operate with impunity.
Coun. Ron Starr, who voted in favour of today’s ban and pilot program, said the city first asked Uber to stop operating in the city back on Mar. 2, but heard no response.
“All (UberX) has to do is operate the same way we do and say ‘okay, we’re going to be licensed, we’re going to have a brokerage licence, and we’re going to have vehicles that are inspected,’ that’s their choice,” Starr said.
