Archive

Local taxi firms call for rule changes in face of increased Uber presence

November 15, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Mike Baker

Two of the major players in Orangeville’s taxi service industry are calling on the Town to provide some level of support, with the recent arrival of alleged “illegal competition” to community, starting to impact upon their business. 

Ricky Singh is a member of the family that owns and operates Orangeville Taxi and Call-A-Cab. He addressed Council on Monday evening (Nov. 4), saying online-based driver services are putting the local cab companies’ business in jeopardy.

“What’s happening right now, is Uber is coming in here and hurting our business,” Mr. Singh told Council. “Since January of 2018, our business has been going down. We are having a hard time operating our business now. We are now paying out of our own pocket to operate our taxi service at night.”

He added, “Very soon, if we don’t get enough help, if the business doesn’t improve, we may be forced to shut down our business from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.”

The biggest problem, Mr. Singh says, is the emergence of services like Uber, and Lyft, which have started to operate in the Orangeville area over the past 12 months. While Mr. Singh isn’t necessarily against the increased competition, he wants Council to “level the playing field”, requesting several changes within the Town’s taxi bylaw.

He wants to make the current Orangeville Taxi and Call-A-Cab fleet “more attractive” to potential customers. A big part of that, Mr. Singh says, is removing the “ugly” roof light that all taxis are currently mandated to have if they want to operate in Orangeville.

While he didn’t get into specific financial details or figures, Mr. Singh also called on Council to provide something of a tax break to Orangeville Taxi and Call-A-Cab if they are to continue to operate at their current levels in town.

“Over the past 18 months, Uber has taken a lot of business away from Orangeville Taxi. Uber is not paying anything to the Town of Orangeville. The Town is getting no benefit from Uber operating here,” Mr. Singh said. 

He also asserted that anyone who chooses to ride with Uber would not be properly covered by insurance in the case of an accident.

“Any Orangeville residents who are taking Uber, they are not safe,” he reiterated.

Historically, Orangeville Taxi and Call-A-Cab has held a monopoly over the taxi industry in Orangeville. The companies have long held the majority of the licenses available in the community. Mr. Singh noted the company recently returned six taxi licenses to the Town due to a decreasing demand for services in the area, and lack of available drivers. He’s afraid of what the future might hold unless the Town takes action.

“Right now we are running 24 hours a day, but soon we won’t be,” Mr. Singh said. “We’ve been running our business for 15 years. We want to turn this around so that we can run our business successfully. We don’t want to go out of business.”

There appeared to be little sympathy for Mr. Singh among Council on Monday. Coun. Lisa Post noted that taxi services in Orangeville have long held a reputation for being unreliable.

“I come from years of working in the restaurant industry. I think the best thing that has happened to the taxi service are companies like Uber and Lyft,” Coun. Post stated. “For a long time, the taxi industry has been monopolized. With the introduction of Uber, that’s made it more convenient for customers to see how long their ride is going to be. Multiple times when I was working, I had to drive clients home at night because I couldn’t rely on a cab to get them home.”

She added, “I was excited when Uber came to town. It is a disruption to taxi services, no doubt, but it’s a positive one in my opinion. It’s making you make changes to your industry that is benefitting customers in the long run.”

Coun. Todd Taylor seemed to share that belief.

“The public feedback I get regarding your business has not been necessarily positive. Communication is an issue. Residents are waiting for a long period of time for taxis that don’t show up. They’ll call your business and not be able to get anyone on the phone. This is the feedback I’m getting – that your communication isn’t fantastic, and the service is not consistent,” Coun. Taylor remarked.

Mr. Singh retorted that “negativity always comes first” in the service sector, noting that his company could do “99 good things and one bad thing”, but the bad thing is the only issue that will be discussed or talked about. 

He discussed his company’s plans to develop and roll out a new online app, which they plan to launch later this month.

“We’re investing a lot of our own money into this app. It will mean customers no longer have to wait on the phone, or call directly in to book a taxi, they will be able to do it online, or right on their smart phone. They will have options to make payments through this app in any way they want too,” Mr. Singh said. “Our app will be a lot better than Uber.”

Coun. Taylor, following similar suggestions from Coun. Post and Coun. Joe Andrews, moved that this issue be forwarded to the Town’s transportation committee for consideration.

“This is a moving target right now. We feel your pain. We do appreciate the taxi bylaw needs some adjustment to level the playing field and make things fair for everybody. We’re going to work on that, and take it to our transit task force,” Mayor Sandy Brown informed Mr. Singh.


Readers Comments (0)





Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.