Industry insiders admit problem with taxi drivers refusing short fares

Ask them directly and taxi drivers and officials alike will easily admit there are many problems in their industry.  For customers, one of the most frustrating is that cabbies often turn down fares they deem “too short.”

David Pearcey, a driver with Phoenix Transportation, said he witnessed a troubling example Wednesday night outside the Guvernment nightclub while waiting to pick up his own clients.

Pearcey said he saw drivers from Diamond, City and Beck Taxi deny rides to three separate groups of teenagers from an all-ages event.

“I felt awful…It was a really cold night and they can’t get home,” Pearcey said.

Short fares are not a legally applicable reason for turning down a fare.

Chapter 545 of the Toronto Municipal Code says taxi drivers can only refuse someone a ride if that person:

(1) Owes such owner or driver for a previous fare or service;

(2) Upon being requested by such owner or driver, refuses to disclose his or her final destination before or immediately after entering the taxicab;

(3) Asks to be driven to a remote place in circumstances which such owner or driver reasonably believes to be unsafe;

(4) Is unduly obnoxious or abusive;

(5) Smokes in the taxicab; or

(6) Fails or refuses to make an advance payment when requested by the driver in accordance with § 545-150S

While several cabbies Global News spoke to Friday afternoon said there is usually a legitimate reason for such fare refusals, just as many said it is often based on money.

“Sometimes people don’t want to take short fares because they’re hoping that somebody else might walk in who’ll be going a longer distance,” said Beck driver Usman Malik.

Randolph Ormsby, a 31-year taxi veteran driving for Scarborough City Cab, shrugged. “It’s just a sense of greed on the part of drivers,” Ormsby said. He insisted he takes any fare that comes his way, as long as it’s safe.

Beck’s Operations Manager Kristine Hubbard called the problem an “epidemic.”  She said Beck has a zero-tolerance policy for such behaviour and that when a cabbie is reported, “the driver in the vehicle is brought into our office, we have that discussion and we determine what next best steps are.”

Hubbard said most of these incidents are first-time offences, and that most drivers never repeat the bad behaviour. She insisted that, short of sending supervisors out to taxi stands to watch over their cabbies, companies can only do so much. Hubbard called on the city’s Bylaw Enforcement division to put more officers on the streets and focus them solely on taxis.

There are a total of 46 bylaw enforcement officers on Toronto’s roster.

Rose Burrows, the Bylaw Enforcement’s Central District Manager, said the answer isn’t more officers.

“It’s a matter of being able to report it,” she said, arguing that officers rely on citizens as extra sets of eyes.

“We encourage the public to report situations like this.”

Cabbies caught turning down short fares face a $150 fine. So far this year, the City of Toronto has laid 150 such charges.

If you are unfairly turned down by a cab driver, officials advise you to take down the vehicle number usually located on the sides and rear of the car, and notify the cab company and City of Toronto Bylaw Enforcement or 311.