Beck Taxi Criticizes Toronto’s Proposed Cap on Rideshare Drivers

Kristine Hubbard, Beck Taxi’s operations general manager, has issued a statement in response to Toronto’s proposed rideshare driver cap. As the city suggests a ceiling of around 80,000 city-wide rideshare drivers, Hubbard claims the proposal is “absurd.”

As first reported by the Toronto Sun, Hubbard explains that as of now, only around 56,000 Uber and Lyft drivers are in the city. Even with this number of active rideshare drivers, Toronto doesn’t currently have a cap. “They’re capping at the same number that New York City has at 10 times their population,” Hubbard states.

The reported cap is being proposed as a way to limit the ways traffic could worsen in the city. Members of city hall believe the cap could also impact increases in emissions over time. There’s also the public transit system to consider that would be leveraged as an alternative. However, not everyone is on board.

Councillor Brad Bradford earlier said that the cap would be “a blow to [Toronto’s] economy. “The proposed cap takes away flexibility for riders and threatens the opportunity for new drivers to earn some additional income to pay bills or support their families,” Bradford says.

The report claims that 14.2 percent of city-wide drivers are made up by rideshare drivers. A bulk of the traffic congestion is in the downtown core, making it more difficult for commuters and drivers.

In 2023, Toronto attempted to place a cap on rideshare drivers. However, it’s since revisited the idea after a legal dispute with Uber Canada. “It’s been a year and Mayor (Olivia) Chow is back to a cap on the number of rideshare drivers without any industry consultation or accurate data,” Uber Canada says in the report. “Instead of focusing on the issues that matter to Torontonians, Mayor Chow is once again putting affordability, reliability and safety of an important transportation option at risk.”