I’ve written about Hailo which is an app that allows you to get a cab and pay for it using your smartphone. There’s a second app called Uber that does the same thing and clearly, these apps make some people nervous. An example of this comes from a story in The Toronto Star where a taxi driver was essentially “exiled” from Toronto taxi company Beck Taxi for using these apps to find customers. Here’s the thing, what he was doing was not illegal:
Sheikh Imran likened it to a “police interrogation,” but he hadn’t broken the law: The Beck Taxi driver had used two smartphone applications to find people to ride in his cab.
For refusing to stop, his punishment was exile.
“They took my car. They took my radio service. Everything,” said Imran, nearly a week after the day that he claims he was called into Beck head office and grilled about his use of the taxi for Hailo and Uber calls. Beck policy is to forbid drivers from finding fares with smartphone apps made by other companies — even though it’s legal for cabbies to do so.
Imran said he hasn’t been able to work since the backroom meeting on Aug. 20 — which he said was video-recorded like a “police interrogation” — claiming he’s been blocked from picking up his rented taxi and kicked off the Beck dispatch system.
“I’m being deprived of my livelihood,” said Imran, 44. “It’s a major violation of my professional rights.”
Now, I can see why Beck might get a bit concerned about him using using a third party app to get customers, seeing as they have their own iOS and Android apps that I am sure funnel pickups through their dispatch system. In fact, they say you can’t use other apps when you agree to work for them. But I have to point out that it’s not illegal for a cab driver to use one or both of these apps. So since it’s not illegal, a cab drive would be tempted to use them. After all, their income depends on being able to transport as many people as possible. Thus you can see from their perspective why using one or more of these these apps would be appealing.
Now let me circle back to the fact that it’s not illegal to use one of these apps. Here’s what the city says on this issue:
There’s no bylaw forbidding cab drivers from using more than one brokerage to find fares. But there’s also nothing stopping companies such as Beck from asking their drivers not to use the apps, said Scott Sullivan, the city’s acting manager of licensing enforcement.
“That’s not within our jurisdiction to deal with,” he said, calling Imran’s case — which the city is investigating — a matter that’s probably suited for civil courts.
So it sounds like there’s a need to adjust the laws relating to this to fit the use of apps like these and to potentially stop cab companies from treating their drivers in the way that Imran has been treated.
Now for Beck’s part, they said a bunch of things to the Toronto Star via Twitter. First was this:
Beck operations manager Kristine Hubbard responded to requests for comment on Twitter, denying knowledge of any issues with drivers and stating: “Drivers support Beck no incidents to report. Sorry.”
Then came this:
On Twitter, Hubbard — who Imran claimed was in the room when he was asked to sign the waiver — wrote “Drivers always have choices” when asked about Imran. “We have an app for use in Beck vehicles but any driver can use other apps/drive for other companies.”
But she also said this last year to the Toronto Star:
Speaking to the Star last October, Hubbard denied any cab drivers were being disciplined for using the apps, but insisted that they should only be allowed to use one dispatch company.
“When you’re in a Beck Taxi, the service being offered through the Beck Taxi radios are for Beck taxis,” she said at the time. “You work for one company or you work for another.”
One wonders what the real story is, and why this driver isn’t working as I type this.
Free WiFi In Toronto Subway Stations Starting Today
Posted in Commentary with tags Subway, Toronto, WiFi on November 25, 2013 by itnerdIf you travel the Toronto Transit Commission’s subway system and you transit through Yonge/Bloor Station or St. George station, you will now have WiFi at you disposal according to the Toronto Star:
Riders will be able to send emails, receive TTC alerts and surf the web from St. George and Bloor-Yonge stations, effective Monday morning.
But BAI Canada, the company with the contract to outfit 61 Toronto subway stations with wireless, hasn’t yet attracted a cell carrier that would allow riders to phone and text on the subway, said TTC spokesman Brad Ross.
“Cell providers have not demonstrated an eagerness to participate at this stage, so there will be no cell service or texting,” he said on Friday.
I have to admit that I am perplexed as to why Rogers, Bell or Telus wouldn’t want to have their services expanded into Toronto’s subway system. Though, I will note that Toronto joins cities like Paris and London who both have WiFi in the subway. So I suppose I cannot complain and I hope this is the start of something bigger.
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