CABBIES SEEK END TO UBER THREAT Taxi drivers staged a protest outside the Montreal courthouse on Monday as lawyers for the industry made another attempt in court to shut down Uber, the ride-sharing service that has been a thorn in the side of the taxi ind
The taxi industry says Uber, which allows users to hail a ride using a mobile phone application, is operating illegally and is a threat to their business. The company relies mostly on drivers using their personal cars to provide the service, and the drivers don’t have taxi permits. Despite numerous protests by taxi drivers, Quebec recently reached a deal on a one-year pilot project to allow Uber to operate legally.
Here are some of the major developments in the ongoing conflict between Uber and the taxi industry:
NOVEMBER 2013
Uber arrives in Montreal as an edispatch service used by independent taxi drivers to find fares.
OCTOBER 2014
Uber gets the attention of the taxi industry after it launches its Uber X app, which allows customers to book a ride and pay the fare using an app on their mobile phone. Uber X is staffed with drivers using their own cars who sometimes undercut the rates of cabs.
OCTOBER 2015
The city of Montreal makes it mandatory for taxi drivers to accept credit and debit card payments as a way of modernizing the taxi industry.
NOVEMBER 2015
Uber announces that its business in Montreal is booming one year after the Uber X app was launched. The company says there are close to 300,000 Uber requests logged each month and a ride is offered on the Uber platform every nine seconds. Meanwhile, the Montreal Taxi Bureau says it has seized about 400 cars operated by Uber drivers for violating the law that requires taxi drivers to have permits. Uber has challenged all of those seizures in Montreal Municipal Court.
JANUARY 2016
Transport Minister Robert Poëti, who considered Uber a pariah of the taxi industry, is shuffled out of the Quebec cabinet. Poëti said Uber engages in illegal transportation, since its drivers do not hold taxi licences, nor do they have the same insurance as the rest of the taxi industry.
MARCH 2016
The union representing thousands of taxi drivers files for permission to launch a class-action suit against the mobile ride-hailing application saying it’s engaging in unfair competition.
MAY 12, 2016
Quebec’s new Transport Minister Jacques Daoust tables a bill to force Uber drivers to buy taxi permits to operate legally. It also threatens to increase fines for anyone found to be driving for money without a valid taxi permit.
MAY 15, 2016
The Quebec Liberal Party’s youth wing successfully passes a resolution that calls on the government to work with companies that have new business models, like Uber. Young Liberals say they don’t want Uber to leave the province and say Quebec should do more to embrace innovation.
JUNE 2016
The government passes Bill 100, which calls for ride-hailing companies to adhere to Quebec’s existing system of taxi permits, or risk facing stiff penalties. But the law also gives the government and Uber until Sept. 8 to hammer out a pilot project, which would see Uber operate legally in the province within its own special category.
SEPT. 6, 2016
Uber threatens to shut down operations in Quebec if the company can’t come to an agreement with the Quebec government on a pilot project.
SEPT. 8, 2016
New Transport Minister Laurent Lessard and Uber reach a deal on a pilot project that allows Uber to operate legally. The one-year deal requires Uber drivers to have a Class 4C driver’s licence and insurance, undergo a criminalbackground check, have their car inspected and pass customer service training. But it does not require them to hold the same type of permit as taxi drivers, which can cost up to $200,000. Instead, Uber will pay a flat fee to the government on each ride, which will go into a fund to help modernize the taxi industry.
SEPT. 16, 2016
The taxi industry applies for an emergency court injunction to stop the pilot project, but a judge turns down the request saying the case isn’t urgent. Drivers claim the pilot project would legitimize Uber and cause irreparable harm to taxi drivers, who would not only lose revenue, but see the value of their taxi permits plummet. The judge orders the parties to return to court in January for a hearing on a permanent injunction against the government’s pilot project.
SEPT. 27, 2016
Taxi drivers return to court to apply for an injunction banning Uber from operating in the province because they claim the service is illegal. A decision is expected on Tuesday.