TORONTO –The Toronto Taxi Alliance is calling on the city to pursue another injunction against Uber after a court in Calgary ordered the ridesharing company to pull its drivers off the roads.
A temporary injunction was filed against Uber on Friday in Calgary, after a judge decided the ridesharing app was breaking a city bylaw.
READ MORE: Judge orders Uber to suspend its ride-sharing service
It has been less than six months since the Ontario courts sided with Uber in a legal battle with the City of Toronto – who at the time – was seeking an injunction against the ridesharing company.
A formal letter addressed to Mayor John Tory said the Toronto Taxi Alliance is calling upon the City of Toronto to apply for an injunction in the Superior Court prohibiting Uber from operating in the city.
“When the city applied for such injunction one year ago, the court held that the definition of ‘taxicab broker’ in the Municipal Code did not clearly capture Uber’s activity,” the letter said.
“However, on October 2, 2015, the code was amended to remedy that deficiency. Yet despite s request by the city to cease its illegal operations Uber has refused to do so.”
The city voted in October to see the ridesharing app regulated and in an attempt to even the playing field, taxi base fares were lowered on Nov. 1.
The taxi industry says that is not enough.
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“This is a safety epidemic and we need the city to act,” Sam Moini, spokesperson with Toronto Taxi Alliance.
“We need the mayor’s political will to be behind it and we are looking for this injunction to be applied as soon as possible.”
Moini added councils vote in October closed loopholes around Uber.
“It strengthens their position, closed all loopholes Uber had in their victory against us … Now I am close to 100 per cent confident that the city would be victorious if they were to filed an injunction today,” he said.
A statement from Uber Canada spokesperson Susie Heath said Toronto is already moving forward to create regulations for the close to 20,000 drivers in Toronto who drive with Uber.
“A city injunction would strand those drivers and over half-a-million Toronto riders,” the statement said.
READ MORE: Uber operations in Toronto spark possibility of strike in taxi industry
The taxi industry has previously hinted towards a possible strike.
When asked about that Wednesday, Moini had no comment.
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