MADD Canada urges Toronto councillors to reconsider pause of rideshare drivers’ licenses

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada (MADD Canada) is urging City of Toronto councillors and bureaucrats to reconsider the pause on rideshare drivers’ licenses, especially with a busy holiday season ahead.

Toronto councillors paused the issuing of new rideshare licenses on Nov. 9 as the city works to roll out its driver training accreditation program, which will eventually be mandatory for all rideshare drivers.

The planned program was first adopted by city council in July 2019. As originally planned, all vehicle-for-hire or private transportation company drivers were supposed to have taken the course by June 2020.

However, the city set that deadline aside as it dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Toronto was still issuing rideshare drivers’ licenses without the accreditation until the city’s pause last week.

Uber has warned that its prices could increase and wait times could be longer if it can’t add new drivers to its roster.

Further, MADD insists pausing these licenses as the holiday season arrives, when alcohol consumption increases and the risk for impaired driving, will have ” a negative impact on Torontonians.”

One study has found that in the U.S., ridesharing apps have led to an almost six per cent decrease in alcohol-related traffic fatalities. The study, by National Bureau of Economic Research, private non-partisan organization, was released in July.

“Ridesharing has been a vital in the fight against impaired driving,” said Murie, “We know when there’s lots of rides available, people make the right choice.”

Speaking to CityNews, Councillor Krystin Wong-Tam disputed Uber’s prediction that prices and wait times would increase because of licenses not being issued. She said no current drivers will be taken off the roadway so there will be no change to the level of service operating right now.

“If there is an escalation of costs to ridesharing, that is strictly because the companies are making more money,” said Wong-Tam. “Any threat that there’s is going to be a rise in costs is not true and wouldn’t be because of the requirement of training.”

She added that City Council voted to introduce the driver accreditation program for the safety of Torontonians. In 2018, 28-year-old Uber passenger Nicholas Cameron died following a crash on the Gardiner Expressway. The Uber driver, 23-year-old Bishar Mussa, pleaded guilty to careless driving the next year. 

When asked whether they anticipated there would be fewer drivers on the road due to the pause, the City said data provided to them by private transportation companies shows the number of drivers have already fallen by almost 50 per cent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic prior to the pause, and wait times have almost doubled.

However, Wong-Tam noted that Toronto now has more rideshare drivers thank New York City.

While Murie agreed that drivers should be trained, he argued that since the delay is at the City level, the drivers shouldn’t be the ones hurt by the decision.

“They shouldn’t be punished … for something they have no control over. And for something that puts the community at risk with more impaired driving,” he said.

An Uber spokesperson agreed with Murie’s sentiment. “It is deeply unfair to punish the thousands of drivers who want to earn an income and the hundreds of thousands of Torontonians who require a reliable rideshare service to help them get from point A to point B because of the City’s slow action,” the company said in a statement to CityNews.

The City reissued the call for applications from companies who could provide the driver training program last week and the deadline to submit an application is December 10. The evaluation of applications is anticipated to be complete by the end of January 2022.

They did not clarify when the program would be operational.