An Ottawa taxi driver who helped secretly record rides with Uber drivers is defending his actions, after the city’s mayor said he looked like a “thug.”
Driver Roy Noja and four other men appear in a YouTube video called “The Reality of UBER!!” The video shows them taking a ride in an Uber vehicle in what they say is an effort to gather “evidence” for bylaw officers.
They use their smartphone to order a short ride to a McDonald’s and then show the driver’s name, face and licence plate number.
They quiz the driver on topics like whether passengers would be covered by his insurance in the case of an accident, ask whether they can smoke in the car and demand his cellphone number, which he eventually provides.
Mayor Jim Watson saw the video and said they men “actually look like thugs and bullies.”
“I don’t support vigilantism and I think it does a disservice to the hardworking cab drivers,” he added.
But Roja said he’s just defending his job against drivers who don’t have to follow the same rules and operate outside the law.
“He called us thugs, it’s his opinion, I don’t think it’s the city’s opinion,” Roja added.
Tensions are escalating between the city’s taxi drivers and Uber, with Ottawa cabbies saying they will join a worldwide protest planned for Sept. 16.
Roja said details of the protest are “confidential,” but downplayed suggestions it would lead to violence, after his Instagram account showed photos of guns, including one pointed inside a vehicle.
“We’re not these kind of people so relax,” he told CTV Ottawa, adding that the guns were not his.
Mayor Watson said the city is reviewing its taxi bylaw with the goal of “leveling the playing field” between Uber drivers and city-sanctioned taxi drivers, who he says may be charged “too many fees.”
“How do we bring them down, while at the same time making sure ride-sharing has customer service in mind?” Watson said.
