MAKING SENSE OF THE UBER VOTE

The smoke is starting to clear from Toronto city council’s vote to legalize UberX and similar ride-hailing services. David Rider and Betsy Powell have drawn a road map to personal-transportation change coming to commuters.

Surge pricing

Taxi brokers will be permitted to set rates above the city-regulated rate when the taxi is booked through an app, with some stipulations. Other than the city-regulated taxi rate for street hail and cabstand-originated trips, and the minimum fare of $3.25 for “private transportation companies,” the city is not engaged in setting fares. Uber already uses surge pricing, which it says ensures “reliability and availability for those who agree to pay a bit more.” At least one cab company, Beck, says it won’t be using surge pricing.

Wheelchair accessibility

Toronto’s taxi fleet is no longer man- dated by the city to be wheelchair accessible by 2024. This could be a big blow to disabled Torontonians. However, Uber has started a service, Uber Assist, to help disabled passengers. Also, the new rules say a ride-hail service with more than 500 cars must offer accessible vehicles with the same fares and wait times as non-accessible vehicles. Nobody really knows, however, what the impact of the changes will be on disabled passengers.

Cameras

A requirement that taxis have onboard cameras remains in place. However, the city will not force drivers for Uber and other “private trans- portation companies” to put cameras in their cars. Uber says cameras are unnecessary because its app electronically tracks its drivers and their vehicles. City staff are going to evaluate the issue and advise council in 2017 if changes to the camera rule are required.

Standard plates

"Standard" taxi plates, which can be bought, sold and bequeathed like a commodity, will not be phased out as had been planned. That could affect passengers because one aim of the reform was to put more owner-operators in cabs who would care more about cleanliness and customer service than drivers-for-hire working for absentee owners of multiple plates. City staff argue that increased competition from private transportation companies will ensure cabs are kept up.

Safety

Council critics of the new regulations say they decrease the safety of Torontonians by scrapping a 17-day cabbie training course that included first aid and CPR, and by not forcing Uber and similar services to have cameras and flashing emergency lights. Several other criticized proposals, however, were reversed. Now all driver police background checks must be submitted directly to the city — not to the company — and all drivers must carry the same insurance requirements rather than allowing part-time drivers to have lower coverage.

Beyond Uber

Uber is the Goliath of ride-hailing services, but the new rules open the Toronto transportation door to others. Lyft, Uber’s main U.S. rival, doesn’t operate in Canada but started lobbying city hall before this week’s vote. TappCar, which started in Edmonton, says it’s looking at expanding to cities including Toronto. Hailo briefly operated in Toronto but then pulled out of North America altogether. It continues to operate in parts of Europe and Asia.