Before Uber arrived in New York in 2011, the infamous yellow cab industry was heavily regulated, like everywhere else.
In particular, the City provided for a maximum number of taxi permits, which are called ” medallions “. To serve its population of more than 8 million inhabitants, New York had then – and until today – only about 13,000.
“It wasn’t very good for the consumer because there weren’t enough taxis,” said Leonard Sherman, assistant professor at Columbia Business School in New York.
“The license owners were making a lot of money,” he recalls, but “there was a lot of dissatisfaction on the part of the citizens, who happily welcomed Uber’s new offer, because it was” an efficient option with lower prices ”.
Unsurprisingly, in just a few years, Uber and other apps like Lyft have seen rapid growth, and this has not been regulated in any way.
Today, there are more than 80,000 drivers linked to these new services.
The impact on the value of ” medallions Officials was also dazzling.
After peaking at over $ 1 million in the early 2010s, the value of ” medallion Collapsed to about $ 200,000.
In 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio attempted to lay the groundwork for these new tech players. But, even before a regulation was passed at the town hall, large demonstrations got the better of the project.
“It was the consumers who said, ‘We love Uber! It’s affordable, it’s convenient! We want our Uber!’ Recalls Mr. Sherman.
It was becoming politically dangerous for the mayor, so the by-law was never voted on.
Uber, Lyft and others have been able to add to the road, year after year, more and more drivers, generating even more tensions with traditional drivers.
There followed a wave of highly publicized suicides of professional taxi drivers or owners of ” medallions », Which alerted public opinion.
These human tragedies, but also the growing traffic generated by the addition of so many vehicles in the streets of Manhattan, however, gave the opportunity to Mayor De Blasio to come back to the charge with his draft by-law.
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Adopted in the summer of 2018, it imposes a limit on the number of Uber drivers and other companies of the kind for a period of 12 months, which could become permanent (Uber is also suing the City on this subject).
The regulation also imposes a minimum wage for drivers and a price surcharge to combat traffic congestion.
But for traditional taxis, the requirements remain the same.
The regulations allow “Uber to continue to operate without the restrictions on taxis,” confirms Mr. Sherman.
From the time Uber arrived in New York, until today, the taxi industry has been badly hurt. It is an existential threat to its existence. The new regulations do not change this reality.
The original version of this text has been modified due to elements considered delicate.
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Toronto invaded by Uber
Uber, traditional taxis and Toronto public transportation
Photo: The Canadian Press / Graeme Roy
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Faced with the arrival of Uber, Toronto first tried to ban it before changing its mind after a legal saga that ended in favor of the company.
It has since legalized the activities of these new transport services, but in a way that has caused great dissatisfaction among traditional taxi drivers.
Before Uber came to Ontario in 2012, there were only about 5,200 taxis in the Queen City, driven by about 13,000 drivers.
Today, Uber and Lyft have 78,800 drivers.
The supply of transport has exploded.
Result? The value of taxi permits has plummeted from over $ 350,000 to roughly $ 30,000 today, notes Rita Smith, who has long worked in the taxi industry.
And unlike Quebec, where Bill 17 from the Legault government provides for $ 500 million to compensate taxi drivers, no amount is provided by the City to compensate for the loss in value of their licenses.
A trial could also be started on this subject. A group of owners are demanding more than $ 1.7 billion in damages from Toronto, claiming that they have lost these amounts due to the administration’s “negligence” to protect the taxi industry.
A judge must approve or not the class action in the fall.
The regulation that legalizes the activities of Uber and Lyft, adopted in December 2016, comes with a series of rules to be respected, but often more flexible than those imposed on the taxi industry, in particular regarding security cameras.
They are compulsory for traditional taxis, but not for new services.
Their drivers do not have to hold a taxi license or take training.
“For 30 years, I watched the industry constantly improve,” says Rita Smith, “until [le maire] John Tory put everything in the trash, all the security stuff we had. “
The reduction in safety and training requirements was pointed out after the death of an Uber customer in March 2018, after an awkward maneuver by the driver of the vehicle in which he was in.
A series of public consultations were held recently on the Uber and Lyft framework and a report will be tabled on them.
The City considers that the traditional taxi companies are not left out, since they have benefited from a reduction in legislation, particularly with regard to pricing.
The fact remains that times are difficult for taxis.
“Uber had it easy in Toronto from day one,” says John Duffy, magazine editor Taxi News. People have dedicated their lives to the taxi industry, to serve citizens, and the city has sacrificed them, ”he says.
In Paris, the weakened taxi industry
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Taxi drivers block traffic in Paris to protest the Uber service during a nationwide taxi and teacher strike.
Photo: Reuters / Charles Platiau
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The arrival of Uber in France around 2011 created a certain chaos.
Thousands of traditional taxi drivers have gone on strike, slowing or even blocking traffic, but also directly attacking cars and Uber drivers.
To resolve the impasse, the government reacted by establishing new rules, which were not without flaws.
In December 2014, the Thévenoud Law regulated Uber and other similar transport services.
Uber was then classified in the category of “Transport cars with driver”, which the French call by its acronym VTC.
The traditional taxis retained the monopoly of the “marauding”, that is to say the possibility of taking a customer who hails them on the street, while the VTCs had to be satisfied with those who order them through an application.
“In fact, if you come to Paris, or any large French city, you will see these black vehicles, which are not taxis, which are VTCs, which are openly waiting for a race” , says Karim Asnoun, union secretary of the CGT-Paris, a union of taxi drivers.
The number of drivers has greatly increased in a short time, rising to a few tens of thousands, while the French market had hitherto remained stable, with around 50,000 to 60,000 traditional drivers.
And as elsewhere, the value of traditional taxi permits has plummeted, from a high of almost 250,000 euros to a low of 120,000 euros.
Faced with this situation, the government reworked its law and in December 2016 presented the Grandguillaume Law, which tightened access to driver licenses.
This law also establishes an examination for candidates wishing to drive for Uber, as is required of traditional taxi drivers.
Nevertheless, the profession remains fragile in this context of competition, and unions, such as the CGT-Taxi, continue to put pressure, in particular because a new bill, known as the “Mobility Orientation Law”, which has just been adopted by the French Senate, must continue its parliamentary course in the National Assembly by the summer.
This law covers all transport in the country. Regarding the taxi, it could, fears Karim Asnoun, “make VTC a little more equal to taxis, without requiring from them the constraints that we are subjected to. “
We consider VTCs to be counterfeit taxis. You cannot let the taxi and the VTC coexist, which do the same activity, without having the same regulations, there cannot be two professions that do the same thing, without having the same rules, it is unfair.
One thing is certain, Uber and other transportation apps aren’t always inevitable for traditional taxi drivers.
Some cities have tightened their legislation, forcing Uber neither more nor less to leave the territory, as was the case in Barcelona.
In Vancouver, Uber has been banned, but the province is considering its return in a regulated fashion. Bulgaria has banned the service.
Other bans in other countries have been issued, often contested and suspended pending a court ruling.
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