Skip to main content

Toronto maps out new rules for vehicle-for-hire industry

Toronto City Council has amended its vehicles-for-hire rules to improve safety and accessibility of taxis and private transportation companies including Uber and Lyft. Toronto mayor John Tory, says:” These new and updated requirements are a necessary step in protecting the residents and visitors of this city. Regardless of where they are going or how far the distance, we want to make sure passengers are able to access the service and get to their destination safely." The new rules will make it mandatory
July 30, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Toronto City Council has amended its vehicles-for-hire %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 <span style="color: windowtext">rules</span> false https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/toronto-code-546.pdf true false%> to improve safety and accessibility of taxis and private transportation companies including 8336 Uber and 8789 Lyft.

Toronto mayor John Tory, says:” These new and updated requirements are a necessary step in protecting the residents and visitors of this city. Regardless of where they are going or how far the distance, we want to make sure passengers are able to access the service and get to their destination safely."

The new rules will make it mandatory for all drivers to take a third-party training programme approved by the Canadian city. Preliminary topics will include safely transporting passengers, driving in an urban setting and providing an accessible service. In addition, all drivers will be required to securely mount all handheld devices to their vehicle and display notices if a camera is being used to record passengers.

The council says an Accessibility Fund Programme will help offset the higher cost of providing a wheelchair-accessible service. It will be funded through a regulatory charge on companies that do not provide this service.

As part of the move, the council has made changes to improve the licensing and enforcement of vehicles for hire. This includes increasing the amount of data that is collected to help inform future regulations.

The requirements will come into effect in January 2020.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ertico reveals new ITS event for 2020 in Russia
    September 17, 2019
    Ertico – ITS Europe has announced it is to hold the first-ever Central Eastern European Congress next year. Hosted by the city of Kazan, in south-west Russia, the event will focus on cooperation with Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (which comprises a number of countries formed after the break-up of the Soviet Union) and Central Eastern countries, says Ertico. It will take place in Kazan, Tatarstan on 21-24 September 2020 and there is a preview of the event in the city next month, on 3-4 Oct
  • FASTR consortium releases Automotive Industry Guidelines for Secure Over-the-Air Updates
    November 9, 2017
    A non-profit research consortium dedicated to automotive cyber security, Future of Automotive Security Technology Research (FASTR), has announced the availability of the Automotive Industry Guidelines for Secure Over-the-Air Updates. These guidelines are intended to assist automotive manufacturers and others involved in evaluating platforms for secure updates, describing the threat models, providing recommended cryptographic algorithms and detailing a step-by-step checklist for evaluating state of the art
  • Viettel Post to launch ride-hailing service in Vietnam
    June 27, 2019
    Viettel Post has developed a ride-hailing app for riders in Vietnam called MyGo for car, motorbike, delivery and transport services. A report by Vietnam+ says the postal and delivery company will add transport services by truck to its app and will aim to avoid increasing prices during peak hours. The company is now seeking driver partners on the run-up to its official launch in July. South-east Asia is fertile ground for mobility services: in January, FastGo launched its ride-hailing, delivery and cater
  • Detroit introduces unified bus payment system
    August 15, 2019
    Detroit authorities have launched a ticketing scheme to encourage bus ridership – a new venture which dovetails with existing initiatives to improve mobility, Ben Spencer reports The Detroit Department of Transportation (DDoT) has partnered with the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) to launch a unified payment system – called Dart - for the US region’s buses. Detroit’s mayor Mike Duggan says: “Dart will bring our two systems closer together with seamless transfers and more f