Uber considers court action against City of Surrey
Credit to Author: Jennifer Saltman| Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2020 22:29:43 +0000
Uber is preparing legal action after Surrey’s mayor said bylaw officers would fine drivers and the company for operating in the city without a business licence.
Over the weekend, the city issued 18 warnings to drivers and $1,000 in fines to Uber, and the mayor said on Monday that the grace period was over and drivers would be fined, along with the company.
“Uber, and drivers on the Uber app, have all the provincial permits and licences required to operate legally in Metro Vancouver. It is highly unfortunate that the mayor is threatening drivers with fines that have no legal basis,” the company said in an emailed statement.
Uber did not clarify what kind of legal action it would pursue, but it has not shied away from legal fights with jurisdictions, such as New York City, the State of California and Sokie, Illinois.
Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum told reporters that he wasn’t concerned about the threat, because the city receives notices about legal action regarding bylaws on a regular basis.
“We feel that the ride hailing, or especially Uber, is not abiding by our bylaws. It does not have a business licence at this time to operate in Surrey,” McCallum said. “The same as any commercial business or any retail outlet we expect that all businesses, including commercial ride hailing companies, will respect our bylaws and will get a business licence.”
He said the city’s lawyers have told him they have the legal right to fine Uber and its drivers because they don’t have a business licence.
“So, we will carry it forward,” he said.
McCallum invited Uber to apply for the same kind of business licence a taxi company must obtain to operate — taxi companies pay $161.75 per year for a Surrey business licence, plus $441.50 per taxi — but did not say whether Uber or any other ride-hailing company would be approved if it did apply.
Uber said because the city does not have a specific business licence for ride hailing, like the ones in Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, Delta or the Tri-Cities, there is no licence for which to apply.
“According to provincial law, ride sharing is not taxi,” the statement said.
Uber said its app will continue to be available to those who want a ride within its Surrey service area, which includes a large swath of the city.
Uber driver Aloys Mbella, who lives in Surrey, said he had no trouble getting fares on Tuesday morning, having picked up four people within his first hour on the road. As he drove through the city, Mbella said he was not concerned about being fined and would continue to pick up customers in Surrey.
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation said in a statement on Monday that while a municipality can set requirements for business licences for ride-hail operators, it doesn’t have the authority to block the operation of ride-hailing services.
“The absence of a bylaw or business licence in specific municipalities related to ride hailing is not grounds for refusal of the service,” the ministry said.
The ministry did not say what would happen if a municipality did stand in the way of ride-hailing companies operating in their jurisdiction.
Uber said it supports an inter-municipal business licence, which is being developed by TransLink. It’s expected to be drafted within the next week, at which time it will go to Metro Vancouver municipal councils for consideration. Participation in the regional licence will be voluntary.
“Uber is committed to working collaboratively with municipalities on interim solutions to local business licences while the IMBL is finalized,” the statement said.
McCallum said he is waiting for the inter-municipal licence to be considered by the Mayors’ Council before taking action in his own city. He said he supports the process, even though he was the only mayor to vote against the licensing scheme at a Mayors’ Council meeting in December.
Surrey Coun. Brenda Locke, who left McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition last year and has since formed Surrey Connect, said it’s unfortunate that fines are being issued. She said the city should work with the taxi industry and Uber to make things work “in a civilized way.”
“I think Uber’s got its back up against the wall and they have to take legal action because there’s a possibility that Surrey is absolutely wrong in what they’re doing,” she said. “This is what’s going to happen when cooler heads can’t prevail and people can’t act maturely about what is going to be happening in our province.”
Coun. Linda Annis, who is a Surrey First councillor, said making bylaw officers write tickets to Uber drivers is a bad use of resources, and she is upset and disappointed by what is happening in Surrey.
“I lay it at the feet of the mayor. Certainly the bylaw officers, this is not an initiative that they would take on their own, and they obviously received instruction from somewhere, and that’s just not acceptable to me,” she said.
When it comes to legal challenges, Annis echoed Locke’s comments that they’d be better off working together.
“I think when you’re starting any relationship, it’s really, really bad to be talking about lawsuits,” she said. “We have to work collaboratively with our ride-hailing partners. It’s a service we need to have in Surrey. We need to start off in a collaborative way, not a confrontational manner.”
The Consumer Choice Center, an international advocacy group, derided Surrey’s bylaw enforcement against Uber drivers, and called it taxi industry “cronyism.”
“Going after Uber drivers does nothing but hurt consumer choice and put public safety at risk,” said the centre’s Toronto-based North American affairs manager, David Clement.
“We know from peer reviewed research that for every month ride sharing is legal, impaired driving arrests decline by 0.8 per cent. Mayor McCallum may say that he is trying to protect community safety, but the reality is that he is just trying to protect the taxi industry from competition.”
The issue of ride-hailing business licences, and whether Surrey will participate in the regional inter-municipal business licence, is expected to be discussed at the Feb. 10 council meeting.