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City of Windsor, Ontario recommends council obtain consultant to review possibility of allowing Uber to operate in the city


November 16, 2015   by Canadian Underwriter


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The City of Windsor in Ontario is recommending that its city council obtain an external consultant to review the possibility of allowing services like Uber to operate legally in the city.

Last month, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens advised council that he requested city administration to prepare a report outlining amendments need to a city bylaw that would allow Uber to operate legally in Windsor

A statement from the city that was before council on Monday recommended that council “authorize administration to issue a Request for Proposal to provide consulting services for a review of By-law 137-2007, A By-law Respecting the Licensing and Regulation of Public Vehicles, and the ability of other transportation companies such as ride-sharing application based services to operate in the industry.”

The statement noted that late last month at a city council meeting, Mayor Drew Dilkens advised council that he requested administration to prepare a report outlining amendments needed to the bylaw that would allow Uber to operate legally in Windsor.

“This new transportation business model is expanding and will need to be addressed by municipalities around the world,” the statement said. “This could require a wholesale change of the entire industry and, given existing legislation and individual municipal by-laws, could become quite complex, requiring careful planning and consultation.”

The city noted that although the ridesharing service model has “become popular with consumer in many cities, such as in the United States, it has become a huge issue in municipalities across the province and country with respect to existing by-laws, effects on the taxi cab industry, unions, brokers and taxi cab plate owners, etc.”

The City of Windsor noted that it sought feedback on the issue. The cities of Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa and Mississauga in Ontario responded that they had either hired or were in the process of obtaining an external consultant to review their public vehicle licensing regime and draft any new bylaws, with the intent of reporting back to their respective councils in early 2016. Other municipalities, such as Vancouver and Edmonton, have also hired consultants to address this issue.

“A strategy in dealing with this issue locally could be to wait and learn from what transpires with these municipalities in the New Year and proceed accordingly,” the statement suggested. Alternatively, Windsor council could obtain a consultant to commence its own review process, an option the city has recommended.

“As Council may be aware, Uber has recently announced that it is examining the possibility of moving into the Windsor market and has held information sessions to gauge driver interest,” the statement said. “Therefore, given the time sensitive nature of this issue, together with the complex issues that should be considered given the potential impacts that could result for the taxi cab industry, it is Administration’s view that it would be in the City’s best interest to follow a similar process as other municipalities have done in obtaining the expertise of an external consultant. This process would also promote an air of objectivity, transparency and credibility to the process and would allow for public input to the final recommendations,” the statement concluded.


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