As a woman, I feel safer with the Uber service

Rotten experiences in taxis have made me appreciate a system that seems more willing to hold drivers responsible, Olivia Collette says.

The biggest losers are taxi drivers who play by the rules and pay enormous dues.

When Montreal police officers see a non-taxi car with passengers in the back but none in the front, they’re more likely to stop the driver. So Uber passengers help their drivers avoid this situation by sitting in the front.

I wouldn’t normally do that in a taxi unless there are three other passengers with me, and not a single one of them is a man who could get in the front instead.

Women fear the worst in these situations because the worst has too often happened. My reluctance to sit up front comes from rotten past experiences, and I know for a fact that in this and too many other cities, I’m absolutely not alone.

Still, I got into the front seat of my Uber driver’s car earlier this week. What made me feel better about it was knowing that Uber gives me immediate recourse if something happens.

Not only does the Uber app allow me to give my driver a terrible rating if it’s warranted, the receipt they send me when the ride is over contains the driver’s name, car make and licence plate number. So if I file a complaint to Uber, I have the information I need to tell them exactly who did what and when. Plus, Uber’s system has recorded my journey, and my ride is covered under their insurance.

It’s not just a one-way street. Uber drivers can rate their passengers, too. From Uber’s perspective, there’s nothing to gain from keeping terrible drivers and passengers in their roster. It’s bad for business, so they’d sooner oust them.

A background check is part and parcel of becoming a chauffeur with the service. What’s more, Uber drivers who have harassed or assailed passengers are immediately let go. These measures don’t always prevent bad expe- riences, but they can reduce their frequency, and it’s reassuring that Uber is so quick to take action.

The taxi industry’s response to complaints is quite different. In a case that is still before the courts, Marie-Anne Legault alleges that in September 2014, a taxi driver sexually assaulted her. She is suing the Montreal Taxi Bureau, the city of Montreal and the Quebec Transport Commission. No criminal charges have been laid against the driver.

In May, the transport commission attempted to have the case against it dismissed, but Legault’s lawyer, Leslie-Anne Wood, says the judge threw out the request. Meanwhile, Wood filed a freedom of information request and told the CBC in March she uncovered that 27 taxi-related sexual assault complaints were made in 2014, and 33 in 2013.

The Montreal Taxi Bureau has not announced a clear plan to bring that number down to zero. Until it does, I prefer Uber.

The incident also raises questions about what’s really motivating these organizations’ objections to the Uber service. Actually, there’s nothing stopping them from creating an app to compete with Uber. Just ask Lyft.

If I really believed these organizations opposed Uber on principle, I’d understand. But what’s essentially at stake are lucrative permit fees and the value of existing licences, which could become worthless.

The biggest losers are taxi drivers who play by the rules and pay enormous dues, including the many taxi drivers who don’t own a car and therefore can’t switch to Uber.

In all this, taxi drivers are given little choice but to support organizations that will not lower their fees, improve their working conditions, fire bad employees who jeopardize their reputation, nor put taxi services on an even keel with Uber.