Cabbies hurt themselves
An outsized load of irony was all that Toronto taxi drivers managed to deliver with their reckless protest on Wednesday.
Hundreds snarled traffic amid blaring horns, warning of a threat to public safety. Along the way they injured a police officer, slowed passage of at least one ambulance, and indulged in a confrontation that had one cabbie clinging to a car as it drove away.
They warned of unfair economic disruption caused by Uber and accused the app-based ride-booking service of flouting the law. But, in doing so, taxi drivers themselves broke the law by blocking downtown traffic and managed to disrupt the work day of thousands of people.
Cabbies lost money by locking their cars and refusing to take fares during their demonstration while Uber, the target of their protest, enjoyed a windfall as its drivers picked up the slack.
The net result of the day’s high-jinks was an increase in public appreciation for the service provided by Uber, and a corresponding loss of confidence in traditional taxis.
Despite all that, Councillor Jim Karygiannis, a staunch backer of the taxi industry, assured protesting drivers: “You won today.” As they finally dispersed, some cabbies threatened to resume their protest Friday.
That would be extremely ill-advised. Toronto’s taxi drivers appear to operate in a world of illusion — where systematically alienating customers is deemed a measure of success, and technological advances can be rolled back simply by passing a bylaw.
Pity the makers of eight-track tape-players for failing to obtain a bylaw prohibiting cassette tapes, CDs and music downloads. Perhaps they should have gone on strike in1988 and stopped the public from listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits on their bulky cartridge format.
In all seriousness, one can sympathize with the plight of folks in the taxi industry. Newspapers are certainly no stranger to the disruption that has resulted from an online world.
A city hall report this fall estimated that the decline in revenue in the taxi sector ranges from 10 to 50 per cent, depending on the operator. That’s a direct result of competition, especially from UberX drivers operating unmarked private cars instead of taxis. Torontonians are using their phones to book more than17,000 trips on an average day and riders, on the whole, find the service both convenient and cheaper than a conventional cab.
The solution isn’t an outright ban of Uber, or forcing it to squeeze into the existing rules and tight standards developed for the taxi industry. Uber is something else.
The right approach is to protect the public with new standards, drafted specifically for ride-sharing services, while also lifting some of the regulatory burdens on cabbies that make it hard for them to compete.
Toronto city staff proposed just such reform last fall, but shortsighted city councillors refused to support it. Instead, the majority bowed to pressure from cabbies and ruled that Uber should be treated as though it were a conventional taxi company. It refused to comply and has continued to serve Torontonians, resulting in chaos and confrontation from cabbies this week.
City council will have another chance to get this right next spring. Staff have been instructed to give additional study to options for regulating services such as Uber and report back with a package of recommendations. That’s very likely to be a reworking of what’s already been proposed.
Next time — if city council is smart — it will approve the necessary reforms.
Toronto taxi drivers protesting against Uber did themselves no favours by blocking streets and alienating the public