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City of Toronto Files Court Injunction Against Uber

Posted by Soulskill on from the a-very-polite-injunction dept.

Sebolains writes: The city of Toronto in Ontario, Canada has filed a court injunction on Uber Canada Inc. today that requests for all operations in the city to cease. Uber has been operating there since 2012 without a license from the city, and so officials are concerned that Uber's operations pose a risk to both drivers and riders. How quickly this will happen, we don't know, but the city has asked the courts to be expedient in hearing this application.

8 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Toronto Municipal Gov't divided by Amnenth · · Score: 4, Informative

    John Tory (the next mayor of Toronto) has made statements actually supporting Uber. Thing is, although he's been elected he hasn't taken office yet, so he's not quite in a position to act. Be interesting to see what happens when he takes the helm, though.

    1. Re:Toronto Municipal Gov't divided by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Funny

      The current Mayor doesn't support it? You'd think he'd be in favor of anything that would get him home safely from a hard night of drinking and smoking crack cocaine....

      There's Uber's motto: Hey, we've gotta be safer than driving under the influence.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:Toronto Municipal Gov't divided by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's called regulatory capture. Government initially regulated transportation for hire for legitimate safety reasons; over decades the regulatory agencies set up for this purpose were captured by the status quo. A balance ensued wherein the safety needs are mostly met and the established players don't have to worry about competition. Now there's a disruptive new player that doesn't want to play by the old rules; this annoys the established players along with the self-important bureaucrats that regulate them. Along the way we've lost sight of the legitimate concerns about safety. In the ideal world we would blow up the existing regulatory apparatus and replace it with a leaner version that would focus on the core mission of ensuring safety without interfering with the natural development of the market.

      The same story plays out in a multitude of different markets. George Will writes about it and other examples of crony capitalism/regulatory capture quite frequently. One day a politician will emerge that can actually explain this concept to the masses; this will be a rude surprise for people on both sides of the political aisle who are invested in the status quo. Think of a modern day version of Teddy Roosevelt's trust busting.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    3. Re:Toronto Municipal Gov't divided by thej1nx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Funny.

      But not as funny as pretending that somehow the drivers do NOT have valid driving licenses, or that there are some special inspection requirements that are not required for family cars, but should apply here. This is why lobbying is pure evil.

      What is next? Ban car pooling? Because it is only a matter of time till someone comes up with a popular "couchsurfing/airbnb" version of car pooling, and just generating revenue via registration & background verification fees and advertising.

    4. Re:Toronto Municipal Gov't divided by dave420 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is a difference between sharing a journey which would happen anyway (and being compensated for fuel used, etc.) and someone actively earning a living from driving people around. If you can't see that maybe you should familiarise yourself with this subject before commenting? I know taxis suck in the US (I have no idea about Canada), but elsewhere they are good, and this Uber nonsense threatens to lower the quality massively, as well as put people at risk.

      There already *are* popular ride-sharing apps & websites out there, and they're perfectly legal, as they are organising ride-sharing, not people pretending to be professional taxis.

    5. Re:Toronto Municipal Gov't divided by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, and that difference is who is getting paid. That is literally the only difference.

      Joe Average has no incentive to drive 16+ hours a day. Joe Uber does. That means Joe Uber is going to get into more accidents, and requires a far higher level of skill to get the rate down to acceptable level. Furthermore, while it's of course nice to have cheap taxis, it also means that Joe Uber pretty much has to work those 16+ hours a day to make a living, and that's not so nice for everyone who shares the roads - and sidewalks, and occasionally a living room with a new hole in the wall - with him. So I, for one, wholeheartedly support limiting the supply to the level where Mr. Uber can go home after 8 hours and then mandating that he actually does just that rather than continues busting his ass at the expense of public safety.

      And when you drive through a city, the taxi drivers are always the biggest assholes, cutting people off and whatnot, even when they don't actually know where they are going.

      So do you think this situation would get better or worse by having a lot more and more desperate taxi drivers around?

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. Re:Inspections? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yearly vehicle safety inspections are required in Ontario for regular cars

    So, I'll flat out say to you: bullshit. Bullshit bullshit bullshit.

    As in, you're spewing bullshit. You're spewing so much bullshit it isn't even funny. Are you even aware that what you say is bullshit? You clearly do not own a motor vehicle in Ontario.

    There is no such thing as annual safety inspections of private, non-commercial motor vehicles in Ontario.

    I have owned a motor vehicle in Ontario for almost 20 years. You periodically have to do an emissions test. When you buy and sell it needs an inspection.

    But you do not, and have not for at least the last 20 years, have to do an annual motor vehicle inspection in Ontario.

    There are some classes of commercial vehicles which do get inspected annually.

    So these Uber guys? They're driving in their own personal vehicles with neither a commercial license, insurance, nor mandatory vehicle inspections.

    In other words, Uber as a service is pretty much ignoring the law and claiming that it doesn't apply to them.

    Basically, Uber is a bootleg taxi service, and the laws being applied have applied to all commercial car services for a very long time.

    This isn't some powerful taxi lobby pulling strings behind the scenes. This is cities deciding that Uber is required to follow the same laws as everybody else.

    Uber aren't the victims here. They're the idiots claiming they can decide the law doesn't apply to them and their drivers, and going ahead and doing it anyway.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  3. What is the actual statistics for the 2 years? by temcat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would love the actual statistics of accidents and incidents involving Uber to be researched during the court hearings. Somehow I feel that it won't be significantly (or at all) worse than with licensed taxi drivers and companies. Of course, whatever the stats are, they have nothing to do with whether or not Uber breaks the law, but they can be used to judge if the regulation in its current form is necessary in the first place.