Item - 2015.LS2.1

The Licensing and Standards Committee:

1.  Directed the Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards to submit to the Licensing and Standards Committee at its April 21, 2015 meeting the necessary by-law amendments to reinstate the Standard Taxicab regulations that were in effect prior to February 19, 2014, and direct that notice be given of these amendments.

2.  Directed the Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards to undertake a review, ensure notice is provided, and report back to the April 21, 2015 meeting of the Licensing and Standards Committee on potential amendments to reinstate Ambassador licences, where the licence was cancelled on or after June 27, 2013 (the date the Committee received the report "Taxi Review Framework for Change") as a result of the licence holder's death, or on other compassionate grounds, to allow the transfer of the licence in accordance with the bylaw amendments adopted by City Council in February, 2014.

3.  Directed the Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards to report to the next regular meeting on April 21, 2015 with amendments that would reinstate the 45 day plate transfer rule that existed prior to the 2014 amendments.

4.  Directed the Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards to report to the Licensing and Standards Committee on October 19, 2015 on the feasibility of immediately grandfathering any standard plates, including leases, that existed since the pre-1998 taxi reforms.

5.  Directed the Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards to report back to the Licensing and Standards Committee meeting in the fall of 2016 on the status of the provision of metered, on-demand wheelchair accessible taxicab service.

This report addresses three report requests made by the Licensing and Standards Committee at its meeting of January 21, 2015. These matters involve By-law No. 503-2014 which was enacted on June 13, 2014 following the adoption by City Council of Item LS26.1 headed, "The Taxicab Industry Review - Final Report", as amended.

The three requests made by Licensing and Standards Committee were for:

1.         A review of the rationale for restricting the transfer of the Standard Taxicab licence;

2.         The rationale for choosing July 1, 2014 as the date that the Ambassador taxicab licence can be transferred; and

3.         The process for reinstating regulations for the Standard taxicab licence that existed prior to February 19, 2014.

Two comprehensive reviews of the taxicab industry have been conducted over the last 17 years: the 1998 Taxicab Industry Review and the 2014 Taxicab Industry Review. Both reviews involved complex, inter-related issues and both reviews resulted in significant changes to the taxicab industry.

The most recent review was directed in May 2011 by Licensing and Standards Committee and provided direction to undertake comprehensive reform, including addressing the two-tier licensing system that had resulted from the creation of the Ambassador licence arising from the 1998 review.

Throughout the course of this review, staff undertook extensive consultation and reported to Licensing and Standards Committee with three separate reports, the Preliminary Report in September 2012 where the guiding principles for the review were adopted, the Framework for Change report in June 2013 which outlined the proposed changes and formed the basis for the next phase of consultation, and the Final Report in January 2014 which created a new taxicab licence, provided a plan for harmonization of the multiple tiers of licences, and enabled the strategy to achieve metered on-demand wheelchair accessible taxicab service. These recommendations were subsequently adopted, with amendments, by City Council in February 2014, and the bill enacting the new by-law was passed at the City Council meeting of June 2014.