Mississauga ride-sharing vote deferred

With confusion about new regulations just passed in Toronto, Mississauga council deferred a vote on Wednesday that would have determined the fate of Uber and other ride-sharing companies in the GTA’s second-largest city.

“We have a report here from the Private Vehicle Advisory Committee (recommending council pass strict regulations for ride-sharing companies),” Mayor Bonnie Crombie said to council colleagues. “I don’t think we’re ready to do that, given what’s happened in Toronto.”

As councillors readied to finally make a decision on whether or not to accept the strict guidelines, which would effectively see companies such as Uber bound by rules similar to those governing the traditional taxi industry, Crombie and others said they needed more time to figure out what exactly Toronto did.

Staff said the complex motion passed by Toronto council after a lengthy meeting Tuesday was 20 pages long, and needed a detailed review if Mississauga is interested in possibly borrowing from any of its new regulations.

Some Mississauga councillors didn’t like that idea.

“I couldn’t give a tinker’s dam about what Mayor (John) Tory has to say about this,” Councillor George Carlson said.

Others said the same, stating that Toronto’s new regulations are irrelevant, pointing out that even though the two cities are right next to each other, the dynamics in Mississauga’s taxi market are much different. Others said the vote should be deferred to get more information and possibly see if any of Toronto’s new rules make sense for Mississauga, especially considering that many taxi fares cross the border.

Council eventually decided to defer the vote on the proposed new regulations for ride-sharing companies for one week. In the meantime, staff said they will try to make sense of what happened in Toronto.