No matter your position on Uber, it is clearly a company that is here to stay. Recently, Edmonton became the first city in Canada to legalize Uber, signalling a shift in how the company will operate. Legalization is the fair way to have ride-sharing services operate.
As the old saying goes—if you can’t beat them, you might as well join them.
The Edmonton bylaw looks to regulate the company, including a new class of licence to accommodate Uber drivers, requiring them to have proper insurance, and potentially regulating fares set by Uber the way taxis already do.
Currently, Uber operates in most large Canadian cities illegally, much to the dismay of taxi groups everywhere. The protests in Ottawa and Toronto shutting down city streets are not outliers. This unrest isn’t good for anyone—except for maybe improving Uber’s notoriety.
I’m anti-Uber, but most of those reasons have to do with regulation. I don’t want to get into a car with someone who does not have the proper insurance, especially when I don’t know for sure if they have a valid driver’s licence. Uber says they check for valid driver’s licences, but I don’t trust a company as much as I would trust the city of Ottawa, which regulates taxis.
Generally speaking, Uber may be a safe alternative, but the reports I have heard about being sexually assaulted or harassed by drivers still make me wary. Going with a company I can sue, and is regulated by the city, seems safer.
The main problem with Uber, however, is the lack of proper insurance. If we get into an accident, I’m not covered properly. Paying for a taxi seems worth the extra cost when the alternative could be medical bills or potentially even my life. It’s also unfair that Uber can charge whatever they like, whereas taxis have no say in what they charge.
Regulation will help to fix these issues and more: Drivers will have the proper insurance so everyone is safe, and Edmonton is also looking at regulating the fares. It would be better to have no regulation on fares for taxis or Uber, but having them consistent is more important. Regulation also improves Uber’s legitimacy as a company.
An innovation like Uber is also going to push companies in related sectors.
With regulation, Uber and taxi companies will be able to compete more on customer service skills—skills such as the speed and the attitudes of the drivers, as well as general customer service. Competing on price—as they currently are—is not fair and is causing unrest among taxi drivers.
Perhaps Uber will push taxi companies to become more technologically literate so that customers can pay in the same way. Currently, paying $1.50 to do a debit transaction in an Ottawa cab is ridiculous. It might also push insurance companies to offer a product that works for these types of occasional drivers, and maybe this will also spur a related product for people who rent out their homes on Airbnb. Probably the most well-known of the sharing economy companies, Uber is creating its own path.
Uber is changing the game. Now that we finally have bureaucracy catching up, a four-way-win situation where Uber, consumers, taxi companies, and municipal governments are all satisfied may sound far-off, but it’s worth giving it a shot in Ottawa like they did in Edmonton.
