How the Toronto Taxi Drivers Got It Wrong
By now Torontonians are returning to their usual routines after yesterday’s commuter chaos caused by the Luddites and the traffic vandals in our homegrown fleet of “friendly” taxi cabs.
For those who aren’t familiar with the situation, here it is in a nutshell.
Local cabbies and cab companies are upset with Uber, Uber drivers and City Hall. It appears that they are upset with Uber for creating a popular and user-friendly mobile app for hailing a cab. Seemingly they are upset with Uber drivers for have the temerity to become self-employed entrepreneur drivers. Finally, they are upset with City Hall for not enforcing the by-laws and protecting their transportation oligopoly.
The cabbies’ solution? Stage a protest intended to snarl traffic, defy the authorities and inconvenience hundreds of thousands of commuters.
Full disclosure: I use all modes of transportation, including conventional cabs and the UberX solution. As luck would have it, on Monday I took an UberX from Times Square in Manhattan to the airport and then a cab off the stand from the airport to my home in Toronto. Same day. Same transportation need (to and from the airport) but in different cities and using a different solution.
My Experience
This might be just my experience, but I suspect it is consistent with your experience too. I hailed the UberX car from Times Square. Rosa, our driver, arrived within a few minutes in a new, clean and comfortable Ford Taurus. She opened the door for my wife and assisted in putting our luggage in the trunk of the car. She then offered us the (seemingly mandatory) Uber bottle of water. We arrived at Newark shortly after that. I paid using my mobile phone, by credit card (with an automatic receipt, emailed to me). Easy. Simple. Effective. Five stars.
We landed at Billy Bishop airport and took the first cab off the stand. No hellos. No open doors. No offers of assistance. The cab was an Ambassador Cab (remember how the Ambassador Cabs were going to save the business).
It would not be fair to call the cab dirty. But nor would it be accurate to consider it clean. Altogether unsurprising in what is a mediocre Toronto cab industry.
What did surprise me was that my seatbelt was defective and my driver knew it was defective and he laughed at my struggles in putting on the belt. He was aware of the defect and was giving me advice to jiggle the belt and told me “don’t pull so hard”, as if I had never operated a seatbelt in a car. Eventually I jiggled and wiggled the belt enough to get it locked into place. We arrived at home. I paid cash and had to ask for a receipt. One star.
To be certain, I am not a fan of everything that Uber does, and I don’t like many of their tactics, but Uber exists because fundamentally it offers improved service, more convenience and a better experience. All of this is wrapped around an easy to use app with immediate two-way feedback. I am confident that if my Uber driver had a non-functioning seat belt that Uber would deal with the problem immediately. I know that my particular driver on this day, this driver’s company, and this driver’s licensing authority is allowing him to drive around with a defective seatbelts in the back seat.
The Protest
The drivers are angry, and they have every right to be angry and upset in the face of new, better and improved competition.
But their solution was to inconvenience the entire City of Toronto in an attempt to attract attention. Instead of improving their offering, they chose to throw sand in the gears of the entire city. A temper tantrum, by any other name.
They inconvenienced their regular customers.
They inconvenienced drivers.
They inconvenienced transit users.
And, you know what, they probably didn’t stop a single Uber driver or Uber user.
Yesterday’s useless protest served no purpose other than to inconvenience the city and will have no impact on City Hall.
The Alternative
In watching yesterday’s taxi farce unfold, I wondered if there might not have been a better strategy? Imagine if, instead of clogging the streets and freeways, the taxi drivers made the following announcement:
Dear Toronto –
We are your loyal taxi drivers. We have always been there for you in the past and we will be there for you in the future. We got you to your job interview on time, brought you home from the airport, took you on the date that night you met your wife, and got you home safely the night you had a few too many drinks.
But we recognize that we can do better and we vow, starting today, to do better.
Clean cabs? In the last 24 hours 100% of the fleet of Toronto taxis has been cleaned from top to bottom. We have the cleanest fleet of cabs in the world and we will keep it that way.
Inspections? The City requires us to inspect our cars regularly. We will unilaterally double the frequency of inspection and take any cars that don’t meet our highest standards off the road.
Driver training? London is famous for its drivers having the Knowledge about all local routes. Our drivers will go through similar training and will be the best trained drivers anywhere.
To show our good faith, for the next week, we will provide free trips to and from hospitals for passengers needing chronic care such as dialysis or chemotherapy or other non-emergency care. Call us, and we will be there for you.
We know that we can do better and we know that you want us to be the best. We will rise to the challenge.
The only thing we ask is that you give us a chance to earn your trust, your loyalty and your business.
Yours truly,
The Cabbies of Toronto
Imagine if our taxi industry decided to step up to the challenge of being the best they can be, rather than use this opportunity to inconvenience and upset the whole city?
I know which solution seems better to me.
