Taxi association discussing legal options should city bend to Uber demands in camera debate

The head of the London Taxi Association said his group’s discussing legal options should city council reverse course next week and pass a new taxi by-law that doesn’t require Uber vehicles to have cameras.

Uber issued an ultimatum to members of city council Monday, threatening to pull out of London if the mandatory camera requirement that narrowly passed through committee last week wasn’t removed.

While the city has accommodated many of Uber’s other demands like changes to per-ride fees and surge pricing, the company has pushed back on the idea of mandatory cameras, arguing their installation would be redundant as the app identifies both driver and passenger, and cost prohibitive at more than $1,000 per vehicle.

Should council make the change in Uber’s favour, taxi brokers have floated the idea of pulling their cabs off city streets in protest.

That plan might sound promising in theory but may end up hurting more than helping, Taxi Association President Jason Kukurudziak said.

“I know what’s gone on in Toronto with strikes, it doesn’t help anybody, it hurts everybody,” Kukurudziak told AM980. “It hurts the drivers, it hurts the passengers who rely on their service, so I have to come through the side of the sober second thought and say ‘maybe that isn’t the best direction to go.’”

Kukurudziak wasn’t sure whether brokers would actually withhold service but said there were better methods they could pursue.

“There are legal options. The Taxi Association has sued the city once, and there (are) legal options for us to pursue, and we’re actually discussing things with our lawyers as we speak,” Kukurudziak said, without offering further details.

The mandatory camera requirement has been welcomed by the London Taxi Association and its’ drivers, who have argued the cameras should be in vehicles for safety reasons and to create a level playing field. Taxis have had mandatory cameras since 2010.

“It’s not a free market, it’s a regulated market. The city has set the rules, and we have abided by them since the rules were created,” Kukurudziak said, adding that Uber’s response was “‘the rules don’t apply to us, and we’re going to do whatever we choose.’

“When they don’t get their way, they say ‘well we want to be regulated … but it’s going to be under our terms, not your terms.’ … That is the thing that we’ve been squawking about. You don’t get to set the rules because you’ve been operating illegally outside the law, so why should you get to set the rules?”

City council will debate the new taxi by-law at their next meeting on Feb. 14. If approved, the aim is to have the new rules in place by the end of next month.

Until the new by-law is solidified, Uber remains an outlaw company whose drivers face fines if caught by city bylaw officers. Nearly 1,000 Uber drivers are currently operating illegally in the city.

With files from Matthew Trevithick and Natalie Lovie