Item - 2021.GL27.19

The General Government and Licensing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council amend Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 441, Fees and Charges, Appendix C - Schedule 12, Municipal Licensing and Standards to maintain, throughout 2022, the temporary 75 percent reduction on the Vehicle-for-Hire Accessibility Fund Program regulatory charges, approved by Council in February 2021.

2. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, in consultation with the Interim Director, Environment and Energy and The Atmospheric Fund, to establish a Vehicle-for-Hire group, under the already established Electric Vehicle Working Group, that brings relevant stakeholders together to develop a strategy to accelerate emissions reductions and electrification of the vehicle-for-hire industry, including considerations for equity and potential implementation challenges for any proposed advice; the results of this work shall be considered by the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards as an input to the development of any requirements or programs that seek to reduce emissions in the Vehicle-for-Hire industry. 

3. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to set a goal of Net Zero for 2030 for vehicles for hire, and to align the plans for vehicle electrification and emissions reduction to achieve this goal.

4. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to report back in the first quarter 2023 on recommended by-law updates and complementary programs to achieve the vehicle electrification and emissions reductions targets for the vehicle-for-hire industry, including outcomes of the proposed Vehicle-for-Hire group under the Electric Vehicle Working Group, and results of the third-party vehicle-for-hire emissions study, with implementation beginning by the end of 2023.

5. City Council amend Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 546, Licensing of Vehicles-for-Hire to reflect the amendments to Private Transportation Companies driver application, and Private Transportation Companies screening requirements outlined in Attachment 1 to the report (November 16, 2021) from the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards.

6. City Council direct that the changes to Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 546, Licensing of Vehicles-for-Hire, and Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 441, Fees and Charges, come into force on January 1, 2022.

7. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to establish a working group with representatives from across the taxi sector to understand and address any issues with data collection and submission.

8. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to review the feasibility of freezing fees for the drivers currently not working due to the drop in ridership demand caused by the pandemic and to report the recommendations to the January 14, 2022 meeting of the General Government and Licensing Committee.

9. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to require all Vehicle-for-Hire companies to submit comprehensive fare information to the city, including rate per ride and distance travelled, and the surge multiplier applied to both passenger fares and driver compensation.

10. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to provide anonymized data to the public through the City of Toronto’s Open Data Portal, such as provided by New York City and Chicago to reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions and improve road safety, for all Vehicle-for-Hire trips, including time spent and distance travelled on each trip, by driver, with fares, broken down into the following but not limited to categories:

a. cruising;

b. en route; and

c. passenger transportation portions, and closest pick up and drop off intersections as provided by the city.

11. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to report back to Council in the First Quarter of 2022 with a plan for implementation and enforcement of the updated by-law to ensure compliance and the promotion of Vision Zero and road safety.

12. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to develop a framework for the vehicle-for-hire sector, supported by an independent report, to maximize the efficiency of the sector by matching active vehicles in service with demand, and balancing public policy priorities, including customer service, economic impacts on drivers, impacts on public transit, efforts to reduce traffic volumes, City policies such as TransformTO, ActiveTO, VisionZero, and our greenhouse gas reduction targets, and this framework therefore shall include, but not be limited to:

a. public availability and competitive impacts across transportation sectors;

b. equity and accessibility;

c. measurement and optimisation of service for disabled passengers;

d. environmental impacts, including environmental policies and imperatives, such as the congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and barrier impacts of transport provision;

e. safety impacts, including but not limited to public safety, individual pedestrian, driver and road user incident costs, and any mitigation thereto; and

f. any direct and associated socio-economic impacts, including the societal cost and benefits of such provision, as may include potential for and avoidance of monopolistic or anti-trust abuses as may result from excess market access, and/or uncontrolled pricing.

13. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to include in this framework, recommendations on the feasibility of applying a ratio of 1 vehicle to 100 population currently used in New York City with the fleet size being reached through attrition rather than driver deactivations.

14. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the General Manager, Transportation Services to partner with the Toronto Transit Commission to study the impact of ride-hailing services on public transit, which builds on the City’s 2019 report “The Transportation Impacts of Vehicle-for-Hire in the City of Toronto” and specifically studies:

a. rides lost annually to ride-hailing since 2014;

b. ride loss projections based on:

i. anticipated growth of ride-hailing; and

ii. changing rider concerns during and after the pandemic;

c. the corresponding impact on fare revenue and, therefore, the Toronto Transit Commission operating budget;

d. changes to traffic congestion, vehicle kilometres travelled (including commuting, cruising, on route and in-service time) by Private Transportation Company vehicles and corresponding effect on Toronto Transit Commission surface transit caused by the growth of ride-hailing apps;

e. strategies and solutions to remain competitive in the mobility ecosystem when coming up against ride hailing companies; and

f. the potential synergies with ride hailing companies that could drive mutual economic benefits.

The General Government and Licensing Committee requested the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to report to the meeting of City Council on December 15 and 16, 2021 with recommendations on potential refinements to the new driver training program in regards to:

a. requiring that all vehicle-for-hire and private transportation company driver training be provided through existing, accredited, public institutions and include in-car examinations;

b. providing acknowledgement and a training credit for drivers previously trained by the City's training program;

c. providing drivers who are currently licensed to operate but who have not received training top priority for the new training program; and

d. including education on sexual assault and harassment prevention.

The Vehicle-for-Hire Bylaw (Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 546, Licensing of Vehicles-for-Hire) came into effect in 2016 to establish a set of rules and regulations for taxicabs, limousines, and Private Transportation Companies such as Facedrive, Lyft and Uber. The bylaw modernized the City of Toronto's approach to regulation, and responded to the public's request for choice in regulated ground transportation options. The bylaw enables the Vehicle-for-Hire industry to provide quality service in a competitive market, while maintaining the City’s municipal regulatory purpose of enhancing consumer protection and public safety.

In 2019, staff completed a comprehensive review of the bylaw and as a result, Council adopted several amendments, including the creation of an Accessibility Fund Program, the introduction of additional data requirements, new mandatory training for all drivers, and an increase in the years of driving experience for all drivers from one to three years. This report outlines work completed since the 2019 review, and provides updates and next steps related to outstanding Council directives. It also provides the results of a third-party licensing fee review, and an updated Transportation Impact Study.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the implementation of some 2019 bylaw amendments paused, as residents, businesses and the City responded to the health, social and financial effects of the pandemic. For example, the Vehicle-for-Hire industry continues to recover from the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of drivers in the industry has fallen, by almost 50 percent for Private Transportation Companies (from approximately 90,000 to 47,000) and 42 percent for the taxicab and limousine industries (from approximately 13,000 to 7,500).

To continue to support its recovery, staff recommend maintaining the temporary 75 percent reduction on the Vehicle-for-Hire Accessibility Fund Program's regulatory charges, approved by Council in February 2021, for the year 2022. This recommendation will not affect current or future access to the Accessibility Fund Program by applicants, and will not have an effect on the delivery of accessible Vehicle-for-Hire service, due to the City's previous in-year budget adjustment.

Based on a third-party licensing fee review, further reductions in licensing fees are not recommended. Vehicle-for-Hire licensing fees were determined to be reasonable, when compared to similar risk and/or administratively complex business licensing categories, and were within market rates, when compared to other jurisdictions. Council has also introduced a number of relief measures for the taxicab and limousine industries, including a 50 percent reduction on licensing renewal fees. If this reduction is maintained, meaning Council does not reinstate taxicab and limousine licensing renewal fees to be cost-recovery, then staff advise that the reduction should be extended to the Private Transportation Companies industry to avoid the characterization that Municipal Licensing and Standards is cross-subsidizing licensing fees.

Municipal Licensing and Standards is actively working on steps to implement the driver training accreditation program. After pausing the implementation of the training program due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Municipal Licensing and Standards re-issued the call for third-party providers on November 9, 2021. Upon its closing on December 10, 2021, Municipal Licensing and Standards will review their applications in consultation with the Expert Panel (composed of interdivisional members) and then accredit approved training programs. It is anticipated that all drivers in the Vehicle-for-Hire industry will be trained by the end of 2022.

On November 10, 2021, Council paused the issuance of new Vehicle-for-Hire and Private Transportation Companies driver licences until such time as the driver training accreditation program is established, and applicants have demonstrated completion of a driver training course. While staff have implemented Council direction, there are concerns that pausing the issuance of licences will have significant impacts on the industry, drivers, individual applicants and consumers, at a time when the focus is necessarily on the City's recovery efforts. A pause on licensing may have unintended effects on consumers by potentially reducing the number of drivers available and increasing wait times. For example, due to the significant decline in the number of Private Transportation Companies drivers, wait times have more than doubled since February 2020. It is anticipated that the licensing of new applicants will resume once the City has accredited training providers and applicants are able to complete an accredited driver training course, as well as meet all other licensing requirements, as part of their applications. Municipal Licensing and Standards will continue to accept renewal applications for existing licensees during this time period. After training programs are in place and available, Municipal Licensing and Standards will establish a reasonable date by which applicants for renewal must also demonstrate they have completed a course.

The focus of the new training is to improve driver awareness of customer service issues, such as accessibility, the act of pick-up and drop-off, anti-racism and increased sensitivity. The City does not train drivers on core driving skills but instead utilizes criminal background and judicial matters checks, and weekly screening of driving abstracts to identify contraventions of the City's screening criteria (including convictions under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act).

To further advance emissions reductions in the Vehicle-for-Hire industry, Municipal Licensing and Standards has partnered with the University of Toronto to undertake an emissions calculations and modelling project. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated by Toronto's Vehicle-for-Hire industry is currently unknown, particularly in comparison to other transportation sources such as personal vehicles. Establishing an emissions baseline for the industry is critical as the City considers the most effective policy options and initiatives to meet emissions reduction targets and goals set out by Council in TransformTO. In addition, a baseline analysis is critical to determining the most effective and equitable policy options, as some emissions reduction initiatives may have financial implications on drivers, and this is typically an industry of already low-wages.

While the University of Toronto project is underway, Municipal Licensing and Standards remains committed to collaborating further with relevant stakeholders. It is recommended that Municipal Licensing and Standards lead, in consultation with the Environment and Energy Division and The Atmospheric Fund, an Electric Vehicle Working Group to discuss opportunities to support the electrification of the Vehicle-for-Hire industry, including considerations for equity and potential implementation challenges for any proposed advice. The results of this working group and the work of the University of Toronto will be considered as an input to policy recommendations that seek to reduce emissions from the Vehicle-for-Hire industry.

The Transportation Impact Study was revisited in 2021 by Transportation Service's Data and Analytics Unit. The study explored trends since the last study was completed in 2019, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Private Transportation Companies industry. It was determined that, at this time, there is insufficient evidence to suggest that additional measures are required to mitigate congestion, such as a cap on the number of Private Transportation Companies vehicles. In particular, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on traffic congestion and travel patterns in the City has been significant and requires continuous monitoring to understand how congestion levels recover and the role of Vehicle-for-Hire in the recovery.

Although the Vehicle-for-Hire Bylaw requires taxicab brokers, limousine service companies, and Private Transportation Companies to submit trip data to the City, currently, only the Private Transportation Companies industry and one taxicab broker complies in a satisfactory manner. This data is crucial for the City to be able to make policies governing the whole Vehicle-for-Hire around accessibility, transportation planning, congestion management and environmental initiatives. Therefore, staff will explore taking further enforcement action to achieve compliance with the data collection and remittance processes. It is also recommended that the Private Transportation Companies driver application and Private Transportation Companies screening requirements be amended to clarify and streamline the current data collection and record management requirements.

This report was prepared in consultation with Legal Services, Policy, Planning, Finance and Administration, Environment and Energy, and Transportation Services.

This report is supplementary to the report from the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, titled: Update on Outstanding Vehicle-for-Hire Directives. His report recommends that City Council adopt amendments to the Private Transportation Company Driver application process, as noted in Attachment 1 to that report. This confidential report and attachment contains legal advice on the existing and recommended record keeping requirements in Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 546, Licensing of Vehicles for Hire.

The attachment to this report titled "The Transportation Impacts of Vehicle-for-Hire in the City of Toronto: October 2018 to July 2021" was prepared by the Transportation Services Data and Analytics Unit to continue to study the impacts of the Vehicle-for-Hire sector on the transportation system in Toronto.

This report is a follow-up to a June 2019 study prepared in partnership with the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute.