Taxi drivers are suing the City of Mississauga for $100 million dollars for the damage caused by ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft.
Back in March, taxi license plate owners asked the City Council for compensation for their income loss in the form of $50,000 per license.
The request cited the city’s decision to implement the Transportation Network Company (TNC) pilot project, which permitted Uber and Lyft to operate on city roadways. The motion passed on March 22, 2017 with a vote of 7 to 4.
The TNC was originally meant to gather data on ride-sharing companies and rider-usage but was extended on January 1, 2019 to an interim period not exceeding 12 months.
Councillor Ron Starr, whom sits on the TNC committee, said to The Star that there are more people using Uber and Lyft than was expected and so an extension was granted.
“The argument as I see it from them is that the municipalities put them into that situation, it was the municipalities that wanted a better industry, to control the type of vehicles, the safety aspect, inspections, fees, and didn’t do any of that for TNCs,” said Starr.
Taxi drivers contend that the TNC project has devastated the traditional taxi industry.
“Our lawsuit seeks to mitigate the gross injustice we have suffered” writes taxi license plate owner and industry spokesperson Peter Pellier to Taxi News.
“While sympathetic to our plight,” continued Pellier, “the city demurred, claiming their hands were tied by provisions contained in the Municipal Act that prevent them paying any compensation whatsoever. This left us with no choice but to sue.”
Pellier argues that Uber and Lyft completely bypassed city regulations like the Public Vehicle Licensing Bylaw, while taxi license owners, who followed the rules, suffered.
A taxi license owner for 40 years, Pellier emphasized that the city’s decision to regulate ride-sharing services has affected the value of the taxi industry and taxi license owners’ livelihood.
“Given free rein, Uber quickly captured a lion’s share of the vehicle for-hire market at our considerable expense,” writes Pellier. “The city’s decisions on how to manage the TNCs have directly resulted in the loss of 70 per cent of the taxi market share.”
As a result, license owners have complained that the value of taxi license plates has severely diminished.
“The loss is real, and it’s considerable,” Pellier told The Globe and Mail. “They used to be worth around $200,000, and now they sell for $10,000.”
In Quebec, the provincial government faced a similar situation and decided to compensate taxi drivers $1,000 to $46,700 per permit.
In Toronto, taxi owners and operators launched a $1.7-billion lawsuit in the summer of 2018 against the city, alleging the improper regulation of the private transportation industry.
Can we sue the taxis for abusing their monopoly for the past 40 years?
City owns the public transportation. Taxi drivers “stole” the City’s clients so City asked them to pay for the “license” … so far so good.
Now, Uber or Lyft would NOT take any profit from their drivers then they should NOT need a license but if they do, then City should treat them the same way as the taxi drivers.
Right exactly
I think it’s only fair that Uber stays.
All along until a certain time the Taxi guys used to dictate terms, they were brash and they’re vehicles unclean…
Now they’ve woken up to their ill means but won’t ask for any apology from the public.
Uber is highly efficient in their methods and very pleasing to drive in. May I mention till date all have been very courteous, some even quite knowledgeable on certain topics etc etc.
Julius
You are full of crap. Uber was the worst thing that the city allowed. How many women were sexually assaulted? Men pretending to be Uber drivers. You would not be saying that if it was your mother, wife, or daughter. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!
That’s what they get when taxis driving recklessly. Making U-turns in the middle of the road or making illegal stops.
Well, if city is guilty of something, then it’s about creating that artificial bubble around taxi license values. I understand for many taxi license owners it was life savings, but any bubble burst sooner or later. That’s the life.
People now have a choice and it’s theirs to make. If your industry is no longer profitable for you then you need to exit. Just like if a store is not, they close! Taking the tax payers money is not the answer.
Taxi drivers don’t follow the rules of the road or people’s safety. Always putting people at risk.
Bald tires
Bad brakes
Illegal lane changes
No signaling
Running red light
Not taking short fares
The list goes on and on
Sis Simpson’s, Eaton’s Kmart, and countless otyer retailers sue tue cities when Walmart started to open stores across the nation? The taxi industry model is ancient and over priced, they didn’t change with the times but now rhwy want to be compensated for their own bad business practices? What a whiney bunch of guys, get with the times and evolve or get left behind.
The inflated the prices of taxi licenses… They said they used to be 200 000 and now they sell for 10 000… Well what did they think was going to happen??
If I paid 200 000 for the license that means I have to include that cost into the cost of the fare, which equals higher priced fares.
Uber as much as I hate the company saw this problem and came with one solution for it.
If I purchased stock of Amazon at $1000 and tomorrow the company goes bankrupt because people switched to some other product and the stock is now worth 50 bucks will anyone compensate me for it. Bitcoin is a good example…
F*** taxi owners… Hope the courts see this argument and tell them to go f*** themselves.
Tell us how you really feel Mike.
If I could call a taxi and get an exact total for the cost of my trip, or have a taxi driver not refuse to pick me up for “not going far enough” my heart would bleed for these people. But the taxi industry failed to keep up with the change of time or what the people wanted.
Taxi drivers most of them have joined Uber and are happy so for those taxi drivers who didnt. What are you waiting for. Xmas!!!!