Alfred-Plantagenet Township council joins its counterpart in Casselman in urging the provincial government to take responsibility for regulating ridesharing operations in Ontario.
After a short discussion, Alfred-Plantagenet Township council gave unanimous support for a resolution that Casselman municipal council approved last month. The resolution calls on the provincial government to take over the regulation of businesses and individuals who offer paid ridesharing throughout Ontario.
The resolution noted that “rideshare services are increasingly relied upon by seniors, students, visitors and tourists, and residents looking for safe, affordable, convenient, and reliable ways to travel.” It also notes that Casselman, like many other rural or small town areas in Ontario “faces challenges related to limited access to (public) transportation” because there is no local taxi service.
Ridesharing is not carpooling, where two or more people decide to share a vehicle on a regular basis to travel to common destinations and share all the expenses involved. Ridesharing developed in the 2010s as people became more used to using the Internet to find services and mobile apps for use with mobile phones also became common as a means for groups, businesses, and individuals to promote their services or products.
A rideshare company uses either a mobile app or its own website or both to take bookings from people who need short-term transportation when a licensed taxi is not available. Most often these rideshare vehicles are someone’s personal vehicle that they use to carry paying passengers. Uber and Lyft are two of the most popular and best-known rideshare companies, who contract with individuals to use their personal vehicles as informal taxis.
A rideshare outfit is not the same as a taxi company. A taxi company has to have a business licence from the municipality where it is bases. A taxi company also owns and maintains its own fleet of vehicles that have to meet provincial standards for passenger transport. A taxi company also has to hire qualified people who have the correct provincial driver’s licence that allows them to carry paying passengers.
Rideshare may be legal or illegal depending on the area of operation. In Ontario, municipalities are responsible for deciding if a rideshare can operate in their area, and also for regulating and monitoring the operation. That includes developing guidelines for how a rideshare can operate and also setting the safety standards for such an operation. In some municipalities rideshares are not allowed to operate, and if they do, they are treated as “illegal taxis” and subject to prosecution.
Both Alfred-Plantagenet and Casselman want the provincial to take over municipalities responsibility for ridesharing in Ontario. That would include creating a common operations standard for all rideshares, whether involving a company or an individual, and regulating rideshare operation in the province.
Copies of the resolution will go to Premier Doug Ford, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, Municipal Affairs Minister Paul Calandra, Labour Minister David Piccini, MPP Stéphane Sarrazin, the Association of Ontario Municipalities, the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus, the United Counties of Prescott-Russell and all of its member municipalities.