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.

Enforcement

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Lyft, Uber have mixed impact on San Fran mobility
    May 14, 2018
    The extent to which ride-hailing has become a real force in the mobility landscape of San Francisco is great for consumers – but there are downsides, a report finds. Andrew Stone takes a look. Uber and Lyft, the two major ride-hailing platforms in San Francisco, are out-competing local cab firms in many ways - and are firmly established as a significant part of the daily mobility mix there, a recent study reveals. Researchers mined publicly-available data derived from the application programming interface
    Read More
  • Maven expands peer-to-peer car-share service
    October 30, 2018
    General Motors’ subsidiary Maven is expanding its peer-to-peer car-share option to more US cities. The service – which sees owners renting out their vehicles - is currently available in four urban areas: Ann Arbor, Chicago, Denver and Detroit. But GM says it will now be rolled out in Baltimore, Boston, Jersey City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC by the end of the year. Owners can rent out their GM car, so long as it is registered in 2015 or later, with Maven taking 40% of each rental. Despi
    Read More
  • LAX bans ride-hailing pick-ups at terminals
    October 8, 2019
    Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is to ban ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft from picking up passengers outside its terminals. The draconian move, which is planned to come into force later this month, is in a bid to reduce congestion at the airport - although the Los Angeles Times reports that passengers will still be able to book rides home from a parking lot near Terminal 1, which can be reached by airport shuttle. Questions over ride-hailing’s contribution to gridlock continue to
    Read More
  • Pack Health and Uber offer free transport for patients in Alabama
    June 20, 2019
    Pack Health has partnered with Uber Health to offer free transportation for patients with chronic conditions travelling to medical appointments in the US state of Alabama. Mazi Rasulnia, CEO of Pack Health, says: “For members who lack reliable means of transportation, or whose health prevents them from driving themselves to key follow-up appointments, offering a free ride through Uber Health is a simple and intuitive way to close care gaps." Pack Health, a health coaching platform, says the partnership w
    Read More

Highlighted Content