The Sharing Economy Needs to Share a Level Playing Field, Insists Co-op Cabs

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 5, 2015) - After years of evading regulation and insisting it was just a technology company, Uber announced today that it is now finally willing to be licensed as a taxi brokerage in Toronto, but only for Uber Taxi, not UberX.

For years, the taxi industry has been calling on City officials to regulate all of Uber's services within the appropriate bylaw, pointing out that a lack of enforcement amounted to massive subsidy of the multi-billion dollar California firm and was inherently uncompetitive.

Co-op Cabs welcomes today's announcement, but its CEO, Peter Zahakos, says the City needs to be wary. "What we heard today is what we have been saying all along," Zahakos says. "But it conveniently overlooks a hugely important part of Uber's business, which is UberX."

UberX is the part of Uber's business that uses unlicensed drivers without appropriate insurance, nor regulated safety measures like in-car cameras.

"This is a huge safety issue for people as we've seen in every other jurisdiction that UberX operates in," Zahakos says. "Especially for vulnerable populations including women and people with special needs. UberX drivers haven't gone through any sort of training on dealing with vulnerable people which the City mandates all taxi drivers to do. There are no identifying markers on these cars, and in the event that something should happen, who do you call at Uber if you have a problem?"

Zahakos says that Co-op is happy to sit down at the table with all the players in the ground transportation industry to review existing regulations, but adds that right now, "Uber is hoping that nobody will notice the rest of their service offerings still fall far outside any regulatory framework in the City of Toronto. And it is asking for special dispensation for UberX, its bargain basement taxi service it insists on calling a ride-sharing program."

"Don't be fooled. Know what you are getting into. UberX is a taxi service by any other name," Zahakos say. "What I would say is, friends don't let friends take UberX. If you want to be safe, choose a taxi."