Toronto Cab Drivers Sue To Halt Uber

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Uber is being sued again. This time around it is the cab drivers in Toronto suing the ride sharing service.

Toronto taxi drivers are launching a class-action lawsuit against ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL], seeking more than C$400 million ($307.27 million) in damages and an injunction to stop it operating in the Canadian province of Ontario.
 
insurance in ontario for cabs is ridiculously expensive.

im talking 10+ thousand a year.

iirc uber won't have to pay that being unregulated and all.

also cabs here have to have a yearly inspection uber again not so much.
 
Not only that, cab drivers require criminal background checks and good driving records. Uber? Not so much.
 
Good driving records? That's amazing, because I've been run off the road and cut off by more cab drivers than anyone else. I don't know who's doing the record keeping, but they're doing a crappy job.
 
I'm still having a hard time feeling bad for the cab companies. Maybe they should be fighting against all the regulations put on them instead of fighting against the newcomers. Things like the stupid medallion/license/etc. rules that some cities have that require a huge payment just to operate? How about fighting against those outrageous insurance costs just to operate a vehicle or the inspection requirements? Go after the ones making the stupid rules so you can compete instead of trying to sue the competition out of business...
 
I did law @ uwindsor and senior people from that law firm taught us class actions law. These cabbie hired sutts storsberg - the big class action guns in ontario; uber is going to have a problem in their hands.
 
farscapesg1 said:
I'm still having a hard time feeling bad for the cab companies. Maybe they should be fighting against all the regulations put on them instead of fighting against the newcomers. Things like the stupid medallion/license/etc. rules that some cities have that require a huge payment just to operate? How about fighting against those outrageous insurance costs just to operate a vehicle or the inspection requirements? Go after the ones making the stupid rules so you can compete instead of trying to sue the competition out of business...
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um the regulations ontario puts on taxi companies are there to protect people.

insurance is the same thing.

taxis are at a higher risk of being in an accident being on the road 24/7.

uber drivers have to commit insurance fraud in order to be covered unless they tell their insurance company that they are a taxi.
 
Master_shake_ said:
taxis are at a higher risk of being in an accident being on the road 24/7.
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If a taxi is on the road 24/7 then there's a problem. Remember people drive taxis.

uber drivers have to commit insurance fraud in order to be covered unless they tell their insurance company that they are a taxi.
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Not sure how the insurance works over in Canada, but in the US if you are driving for Uber, then you're covered by Uber's insurance for any issues that occur, not your own insurance.
 
HockeyJon said:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...behind-torontos-cab-business/article25515301/

And then there's this.
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After my stories ran, the city decided it was time to do something about the problem. Politicians looked at abolishing the system, but the plate holders threatened to sue city hall for the value of their licenses, arguing that Toronto bureaucrats had allowed the system to develop, even though it was technically against the rules. The potential settlement could have run to more than half a billion dollars at the time.
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And this should be the rallying cry to use against anyone who claims that plates/medallions/special licenses are to protect passengers, this is about money for those who own the keys to the kingdom, and in the case of Toronto, the city is such a fucking pansy they balked at the threat of a lawsuit.
 
Like the automotive dealerships and Tesla. Anyone or anything that threatens the status quo must be destroyed! Innovators must be silenced and their ideas and technology destroyed! If they resist, make them "disappear." Lobby and bribe authorities and politicians to convince them to side with you that these innovators are the root of all evil and will lead to the annihilation of the human race.

All to maintain the status quo.
 
All I can say is I absolutely hate cab drivers here in Toronto. They're such fucking scumbags it's unreal. Past 2am, they refuse to embark on trips <20$. That's when our metro closes (for the most part).

So, I usually get in with the GF and a friend, tell them we're getting out at my place (around 9$) and my friend is going to Richmond Hill or any one of the other surrounding suburbs, then we all jump out at my place and I throw the guy a decent tip.
 
sfsuphysics said:
And this should be the rallying cry to use against anyone who claims that plates/medallions/special licenses are to protect passengers, this is about money for those who own the keys to the kingdom, and in the case of Toronto, the city is such a fucking pansy they balked at the threat of a lawsuit.
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I don't think the city really did quit cause of a law suit. They just used the threat of a law suit to justify continuing to do what they were always doing. Its a subtle difference but an incredibly important one.

But yes that article is great because it talks a lot about how broken this whole taxi system is and how corrupt it is. Think about it people you aren't paying for a safer taxi you are paying for a doctor who has nothing to do with taxis to simply skim money off of every fare you pay. Just because he has the "medallion" I don't even care or use uber and I don't really care for their pompus CEO but they will help do one thing and that is really start to expose what you are paying for in a cab. I always knew somehow that the amount we were paying didn't make any sense.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Not sure how the insurance works over in Canada, but in the US if you are driving for Uber, then you're covered by Uber's insurance for any issues that occur, not your own insurance.
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That's not true at all except for a market like NYC which heavily regulates Uber and forces all drivers to have commercial insurance.

In most markets, drivers only get coverage when a passenger is physically in the vehicle and even then the driver probably doesn't get anything for medical bills, no temporary vehicle and lost wages with an at-fault accident.

And when the driver doesn't have a passenger, then they're expected to claim from their personal insurance; which in most markets means your personal insurance company immediately drops the driver because they're driving for money.

And in Canada, Uber is trying to avoid releasing the details of its insurance policy.
 
As someone who lived in Toronto for 10 years (I'm so glad I don't now), The Toronto cab drivers I had the misfortune of using are rude, blatantly racist, dishonest, and terrible drivers. I think they understand this which is why they are so against uber.
 
farscapesg1 said:
I'm still having a hard time feeling bad for the cab companies. Maybe they should be fighting against all the regulations put on them instead of fighting against the newcomers. Things like the stupid medallion/license/etc. rules that some cities have that require a huge payment just to operate? How about fighting against those outrageous insurance costs just to operate a vehicle or the inspection requirements? Go after the ones making the stupid rules so you can compete instead of trying to sue the competition out of business...
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Exactly what I was gonna say. Fight the cause, not the result.
 
I'm surprised WalMart never sued CraigsList for allowing people to sell goods from their homes without owning a business license, the way all these Taxi apologists think.
 
McFry said:
I'm surprised WalMart never sued CraigsList for allowing people to sell goods from their homes without owning a business license, the way all these Taxi apologists think.
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And maybe if CraigsList set the price of the goods, limited the types of goods that could be sold, collected the payment from the buyers, determined which seller the buyer should go to and tried to get the sellers from using any other classified service, they might have.
 
The cab system in Toronto is more like an organized crime family than a legitimate business. How some people can resell city-owned cab licenses I just can't understand. Just license the drivers directly, then maybe we'd have some standards. As it stands cabs in Toronto are about 50/50 when it comes to competent drivers vs complete lunatics,

Honestly, I'd be happy if the entire cab industry in Toronto was driven into the ground by Uber.
 
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