Uber warns of higher prices and longer wait times following Toronto’s decision to freeze new licences for ride-hailing services
This article is more than 5 years old
This article is more than 5 years old
Toronto is the first Canadian city to freeze new licences for Uber and other ride-hailing services. Uber warned there would be higher prices and longer wait times for passengers as a result.
The decision will bring the ride-hail company into conflict with the city and will have a cascading effect on other local apps and the taxi industry. “This decision will result in significant higher fares for riders,” ride-hail company Uber told the Star in a statement. “We will begin billing customers at the new rate effective November 23 and encourage customers to register for new accounts so they can continue to use the app.”
Toronto councillors will be meeting on Monday at city hall to discuss what to do about the new rules. The move comes after Uber’s decision to launch new services in Pittsburgh and San Francisco. Uber says it will appeal the city’s decision and is considering legal action, but the company’s vice-president of corporate development, Joe Sullivan, told the Star that he believes it’s likely the company will be forced to suspend services until the matter is settled.
City councillors John Campbell, Shelley Carroll, Mike Layton and Michael Thompson voted for the freeze. Mayor John Tory said he was surprised Uber made the move, suggesting it had no concrete plans or was simply following similar actions by other major cities such as London and Berlin.
“Any decision made by Uber is of course taken into account but I wasn’t aware of those specific cases,” he told the Star.
The city’s new ride-hail rules, which went into effect on July 1, require new companies to obtain city approval for each new app or service, rather than just provide a single licence. If the company wants to operate a service in more than one jurisdiction, it must get approval in every city in which it wants to offer the service. If the company wants to operate in four or more locations, it must get approval in all those jurisdictions.
“If [the city]