Ambassadors declare City’s once vaunted cab reforms a ‘colossal failure

					Ambassadors declare City’s once vaunted cab reforms a ‘colossal failure’ Fed up with the City’s two tier taxi licensing, angry Ambassador drivers converge on City Hall to demand equal treatment and opportunity by John Q. Duffy About 250 cab drivers came out to parade in front of Toronto City Hall to show their support for a fellow driver entering mediation talks at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. Other taxicab drivers passing by City Hall during the demonstration showed their support for the aims of the group by honking their car horns, or stopping briefly to talk with marchers, but did not leave their cars. Organized by the “Workers group, the demonstration on Tuesday, June 16th allowed the drivers to demand that their Ambassador taxi permits be converted into so-called “Standard” plates. Ambassador cab driver Asafo Addai lodged a human rights complaint with the OHRC alleging racist and inequitable treatment for himself and other Toronto cab drivers who were issued Ambassador permits instead of taxi plates that have value and can be leased or rented out and are permitted second drivers. In the mediation effort at the OHRC, which took place the next day, Addai and the City were unable to reach an agreement. A so-called gag order was imposed by the OHRC on all parties to the discussion, which does not permit public discussion of proceedings. Taxi News is told, however, that an unspecified legal question was raised and Addai and two of his legal advisors are working on a response to that question. They were given 45 days to present a response to that question, with an extension of time possible, if needed. The mediator refused Addai’s request that Taxi News’ publisher John Duffy be allowed to sit in on the meeting as part of his support team. Demonstrators said Ambassador drivers are not allowed to have second drivers, if they get sick or can not work for any reason the plate must be returned to the City and older drivers desperately need some kind of financial security that would in part be represented by a taxicab license with value. In addition, they say cab drivers in this city face an uncertain future, and have to cope with rising insurance costs, higher lease fees, increasing taxes and “relentless ticketing” by police and by-law enforcement officers. Just over 1400 Ambassador permits have been issued by the City, but none in recent years have been issued when it became apparent that too many taxis licenses were issued for existing levels of business. As a result, drivers charge, driver incomes have fallen dramatically over the 10 years the program has been in place. Quantitative analysis of taxi driver incomes is difficult due to restrictions on gathering income data imposed by Freedom of Information and Privacy laws and the Federal Income Tax Act. Ambassador driver Ray Sabatin (holder of Ambassador plate A-90) said he came to the demonstration, “to fight for our rights. Hopefully, Ambassadors will be treated like the others.” Gurmail Dhir, (A-86), said, “Of 80 in our Ambassador class, no more than 55 are still driving.” He said this is due to people just getting out of the business because they couldn’t make a decent living driving cab, or getting too old to drive, or because they have died. He said, “It’s bad because this plate has no value, you can’t transfer it, you can’t lease it, you can’t have a second driver. Many drivers die before the age of 60. We are having enough.” Dhir stated, “Ambassador drivers are in terrible shape…I didn’t apply for an Ambassador plate. In 1998 they (the City) changed the rules and gave us this piece of metal. How long can we drive. We’re getting old.” Dhir is participating in the Drivers on the Waiting list group suing the City for alleged breach of contract over being issued Ambassador taxi licenses instead of Standard (transferrable) taxi licenses. He said, “From the beginning I was against these plates.” Ambassador Parminder Singh (A-473) complained that the City, “Never listened to anything. This program failed.” He commented, “This program is a new program. This program should be reviewed as soon as possible.” A review of the program after two years was promised by the City in the initial legislation establishing the Ambassador plate system, but the City has never followed though on this promise. Singh also commented that a key aim of the Ambassador program instituted by the City was to try to bring down the sale value of the 3480 existing Standard plates. He said, “The Standard plate value is going very high.” (At the time the Ambassador program was brought in, Standard plates were selling in the $80-90 thousand range, depending on various factors, Now there are reports of these transferable plates selling for as high as $200,000, with most selling in the $180,000 range.) Singh suggested many, if not most of the problems the City was trying to deal with, such as concentration of corporate ownership of taxi licenses, was solved by the simple restriction of no longer allowing corporate purchases of taxi licenses, and forcing sales of plates to drivers using the plates only. As well, no driver is now allowed to buy more than one taxicab license. Terry Crawford (A 158), speaking for the iWorkers organizers, said, “The demonstration is to bring our plight to the City of Toronto regarding the Ambassador plate, the two-tier system versus the Standard plate.” He said, “(They) are not what we signed up for. The Ambassador plate was forced on drivers. This program is really not what it purported to be. It was really a deception.” Asked if current Ambassador drivers with higher numbers (relatively new to the Waiting List for plate issue) knew exactly what they were signing up for, Crawford commented that they really had no choice, as Standard plates were no longer being issued. And asked if adding second drivers to Ambassador plates would not just make street competition for fares even worse than it is now, Crawford commented, “You can’t please everybody. In light of that, I think it is the best thing that is feasible.” He firmly believes the City used “Draconian measures” in the taxi reforms of 1998-99, and has little respect for cab drivers as a whole. “In the eyes of the City, taxicab drivers are just a bunch of …,” and Crawford trails off. He says the City has to realize that the Ambassador program, “Is just a colossal mistake on their part.” Ray Sabatin also commented that second drivers, “Will not affect incomes. In my experience it won’t affect the income of cab drivers.” He said, “There is still money to be made out there. If you work religiously for 12 hours, you’ll still make it.” Driver Khalil Talke said, “This is a beginning. I’m telling you that. We’re going to be there.” Asked what the response is to expected comments from some who would suggest that the drivers are asking for an $80,000 gift from the City, Sajid Mughal, a union organizer and past president of the now defunct elected Taxicab Advisory Committee, said,” This is not a gift from the City. These drivers have been working 30 or 40 years serving the public.” He points out that “these gifts” have been given in the past to others in the industry. “These (Ambassadors) are human beings,” Mughal said. “These are not gifts to the drivers. They deserve it.” He also believes the marketplace will eventually solve the problem of oversupply of cabs. Crawford also states, “I believe the marketplace will fix itself.” He believes drivers will find means to cope, by either working harder or cutting back on expenses. He said, “Unfortunately, the City needs to recognize us and that it (the Ambassador program) is not working.” Ambassador driver Owen Leach flatly said, “This program has failed. It has not relieved the problems as promised. It has allowed three year old cabs in the system and it has not provided drivers with a pension or an accident insurance scheme.” He complained, “We have no holidays. We work 12 hours a day.” He said a plate with value, “Would go part of the way to providing that. There is no security in this system.”