Regional councillors say early Uber launch a surprise
Uber never mentioned plans in meetings with region 24 hours earlier
Regional councillors say the sudden launch of Uber services in Waterloo Region came as a surprise after meeting with the ride sharing service the day before the announcement.
"We knew it was pretty much imminent but we are disappointed it came without any kind of announcement beforehand, particularly when Uber staff were meeting with regional staff yesterday" said Coun.Tom Galloway in an interview shortly after Uber's Thursday announcement.
"There was no mention whatsoever that they were going to be launching today."
Ian Black, Uber Canada's general manager, said some people were informed of the launch, but did not specify who.
"We did let some folks know. We're launching in four cities today in southwestern Ontario so there's a lot of folks to notify of that so not everybody would have received a call, but we tried to let as many folks know as possible," said Black.
We are reviewing our bylaw right now for taxicabs and are planning to put into place some things that would accommodate some ridesharing apps.- Sean Strickland, Regional Councillor
The company's UberX service went live at 2 p.m. Thursday in Waterloo Region, Guelph, Hamilton and London.
Uber said there were hundreds of drivers registered in Waterloo Region, and that tens of thousands of residents in the area who have used Uber in other communities had the Uber app on their phones.
Still, questions remain as to whether the ridesharing service is operating legally in municipalities, with strict taxi bylaws in place in most cities.
"We are reviewing our bylaw right now for taxicabs and are planning to put into place some things that would accommodate some ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft," said Coun. Sean Strickland.
"Since they've started to operate we're going to have to speed up that process to review our bylaw."
Earlier this month Uber won a landmark case against the City of Toronto after the municipality sought a permanent injunction on the company's operations, arguing Uber is a taxi company and must abide by the city's regulations.
Both councillors said they believe the issues surrounding Uber are too broad to be the sole responsibility of municipalities issue, adding they hope the province will pursue regulation of ride sharing services.
"I think it's moved from the local level to the provincial level," said Strickland.
"I think the provincial government and the ministry of transportation should adopt provincial regulations similar to what many states in the US have done to recognize Uber and Lyft and these disruptive technologies," said Strickland.