Taxis and ride-sharing in Toronto

[BMO]

Everybody seems to love Uber, at least until Uber implements surge pricing. The cabbies should have stayed home (or taken transit down to a rally), saved on the gas they're burning. The shortage of licensed cabs would likely cause Uber to implement 2x or 3x surge pricing. That would send a better message, I think.

Literally every time I go out in the evening on weekends I always have a minimum of 2x - 3x surge pricing. I understand supply and demand but damn does it get annoying when you're thinking before you go out "ok I'm planning on spending about $20 to and from my destination with Uber" and then it ends up being $60. On Uber I can't even see what my fee is currently at unlike a Cab where I can see the metre going up and decide if I want to get off earlier. Or maybe a fee calculator of some type.

 

[BMO]

Hanging onto the car like that has to be the stupidest move for awhile. Acts like these make it rather difficult to be sympathetic to the plight of the drivers.

AoD

Colour-me-impressed with the taxi driver's Tarzan-like strength to hold on like that

 

[salsa]

9:45 a.m. Outside Queen's Park. Good PR for the taxi industry

Typical traffic conditions:

Today's traffic conditions:

 

[kEiThZ]

Uber can be fought off very effectively. But does the taxi industry have the wherewithal to do it? They need to sell the brand of licensed taxis better:

1) Get Metrolinx to build and manage a taxi hailing app for the region. The app should include a driver rating system and a payment system.

2) Install Presto readers in cabs to allow payment by Presto.

3) Mandate vehicle types. To accomodate for disabilities. And ot meet clean energy requirements (for example, they could only allow hybrids).

4) Allow higher fares based on vehicle types. A van should charge more than a car.

5) Mandate a common paint scheme to more easily identify licensed cabs.

6) Impose a dress and grooming standard for drivers.

7) Require a certain language proficiency level.

8) Require a test of city knowledge. Doesn't have to be as bad as London, but should allow for a basic level of service.

9) Last and more importantly: get rid of the medallion/license plate system. Allow anybody who wants to provide service in Toronto, to get a taxi license as long as they meet all the above standards and other safety standards (driver record, criminal background check). Requalify every year.


Do all the above and Uber won't stand a chance in Toronto.

 

[Electrify]

Hanging onto the car like that has to be the stupidest move for awhile. Acts like these make it rather difficult to be sympathetic to the plight of the drivers.

AoD

If he ended up getting hurt, the driver would likely get off for exercising self defence. And in incidents like this, how do they know it was Uber picking him up and not a friend?

Is there anything that cab driver can be charged with?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

If he ended up getting hurt, the driver would likely get off for exercising self defence. And in incidents like this, how do they know it was Uber picking him up and not a friend?

Is there anything that cab driver can be charged with?

Not sure if charging him would do anything other than inflame the situation - he run the risk of harming himself - the next time he pull that, he might not be so lucky.

AoD

 

[Filip]

It was a very bad PR move to host your protest in front of hospitals and be taped clogging the road so an ambulance with its lights on cannot get out of its driveway.

 

[Electrify]

Do cab drivers protest when people use transit? What about carpooling with a friend? Or gosh... buy their own car?! Taxis have always had competition, and they are foolish to believe that Uber will be the end of their livelihood.

I'm in the burbs, but in my experience while Uber is cheaper, cabs tend to pick me up faster. I remember one time Uber said it would take 15 minutes for a pickup, so I called a cab and it was there in less than 5. Even when Uber is close by, cabs are closer. Once while running late for a job interview in Newmarket, while the Uber wait was reasonable, there were cabs already waiting right in the bus terminal for an instant pickup.

Besides these protests generating a lot of bad will, they are doing more to promote Uber than anything else. When I tell people that I took an Uber, people are surprised to learn that Uber is in the suburbs, if they even know what Uber is at all!

Finally I was at a York Region transportation planning open house last week, and it seems that planners here want to embrace Uber rather than force it out.

 

[the lemur]

Hanging onto the car like that has to be the stupidest move for awhile. Acts like these make it rather difficult to be sympathetic to the plight of the drivers.

AoD

It doesn't really look good on either of them, but the guy hanging on is just asking for a serious leg injury like that.

 

[Filip]

It doesn't really look good on either of them, but the guy hanging on is just asking for a serious leg injury like that.

To be honest, if someone started to bang on my window that aggressively and tried to get in (looking like he wanted to injure me) - I'd also drive away. Collateral damage - self defense.

 

[kEiThZ]

We're not all that far from self-driving cars. Are cabbies going to be protesting that too?

 

[Crimson Alchemist]

Uber can be fought off very effectively. But does the taxi industry have the wherewithal to do it? They need to sell the brand of licensed taxis better:

1) Get Metrolinx to build and manage a taxi hailing app for the region. The app should include a driver rating system and a payment system.

2) Install Presto readers in cabs to allow payment by Presto.

3) Mandate vehicle types. To accomodate for disabilities. And ot meet clean energy requirements (for example, they could only allow hybrids).

4) Allow higher fares based on vehicle types. A van should charge more than a car.

5) Mandate a common paint scheme to more easily identify licensed cabs.

6) Impose a dress and grooming standard for drivers.

7) Require a certain language proficiency level.

8) Require a test of city knowledge. Doesn't have to be as bad as London, but should allow for a basic level of service.

9) Last and more importantly: get rid of the medallion/license plate system. Allow anybody who wants to provide service in Toronto, to get a taxi license as long as they meet all the above standards and other safety standards (driver record, criminal background check). Requalify every year.


Do all the above and Uber won't stand a chance in Toronto.

^^^^This, so much this it hurts. A streamlined, transparent, and very accessible policy making approach to taxis is what we need, too bad it's unlikely to occur.

 

[salsa]

 

[Napoleon]

And another stupid cab move:
Toronto bike cop struck by taxi amid Uber protests:
http://globalnews.ca/news/2390692/t...ts/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

 

[salsa]

And another stupid cab move:
Toronto bike cop struck by taxi amid Uber protests:
http://globalnews.ca/news/2390692/t...ts/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

All day long it's been one stupid move after another.