Regulating Uber: London set to weigh options

CTV London: Could new Uber model work for London? Waterloo Region is considering a new bylaw to deal with Uber, so should London take the same approach? Daryl Newcombe reports.

The return of thousands of students this fall could bring a jump in the popularity of the ride-hailing service Uber, but how London will regulate the service is still up in the air.

This summer, a legal challenge by the City of Toronto to ban the Uber service failed, but a bylaw proposed in Waterloo Region to handle it looks set to move ahead.

Now the pressure is mounting on city hall to determine what kind of approach it will take to the controversial service.

While most Londoners still use taxis, cab drivers say they are noticing increasing competition from the Uber ride-sharing service.

The phone app allows Uber-verified drivers to arrange rides with passengers for a fee.

Roger Caranci, a consultant for London's Taxi Association, is calling on city hall to start writing tickets for those not following the existing taxi bylaw.

He says, "Charges have to come, the sooner the better regarding the Uber drivers who are driving illegally and taking payment illegally."

In the Region of Waterloo, the new draft bylaw would regulate taxi and Uber drivers, requiring both to pay for a taxi licence, install a GPS and video camera and obtain $2 million in commercial insurance.

Uber responded to the proposed bylaw saying, "We are encouraged by the direction that the draft by-law is headed - the Region of Waterloo can be a leader in Canada by developing smart regulations for ride sharing."

London city councillor Jared Zaifman thinks Waterloo Region's approach has merit.

"The idea that the region put forward is a step in the right direction and something we may be able to look at as an option," he says.

Zaifman believes London's existing taxi bylaw isn't the right tool and new rules for so-called 'transportation network companies' is a better approach.

"What we are looking at doing is trying to update our existing regulations to regulate this new service because obviously the big issue here is consumer protection."

But Caranci says, "It's complicating things coming up with new bylaws to accommodate just them and what they want to do when those things are already covered under the existing bylaws."

London city council got a jump start on the situation created by Uber's arrival, asking city staff this past spring to prepare a report outlining its options.

That discussion is scheduled to take place at a committee meeting in September.