Taxi drivers hold protest in East York today

Cab drivers who say they are frustrated with the city’s lack of enforcement around UberX are participating in a peaceful protest in East York today.
The demonstration will be held at the city’s municipal licensing and standards office located at 850 Coxwell Ave
The protest will go ahead despite the fact that city officials now say they have granted Uber a private transportation company licence.

A new ground transportation bylaw approved earlier this year stipulates that UberX drivers must have minimum liability insurance coverage and meet basic standards on the condition of their vehicles.
The city says it will begin inspecting Uber vehicles, conducting criminal background checks and verifying insurance.
Paul Sekhon, president of the United Taxi Workers Association, said the point of this morning’s protest is not to disrupt traffic or public peace.
“They (city officials) should be… enforcing everything and they should cease operations until they (UberX drivers) fully comply,” Sekhon told CP24 Wednesday morning.
Sekhon said while the private transportation company licence may be available for Uber as a brokerage, individual drivers are still not licensed with the city.
“Their insurance is not registered, their criminal background screening is still not done and they are still operating like the Wild, Wild West out there and they have no paperwork yet,” he added.
“We are the taxpaying citizens here and we are getting treated like second-class citizens and they just totally ignore the taxi industry.”
Speaking to CP24 Wednesday, city councillor Jon Burnside while he understands the taxi drivers’ concerns, the new licence is uncharted territory for the city and staff need time to iron out the details.
“There were 101 recommendations and 101 changes essentially to the vehicle-for-hire bylaw and we are working our way through those. The important part of that was that all the changes that benefit the taxi industry, and there were many, were implemented immediately,” he said.
“Their ability to complete, the lowering of fees and regulations on them, has been immediate. So there have been a lot of advantages that haven’t been talked about.”