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The latest from the Ride Fair Coalition

‘Driver poverty.’ Report shows Toronto ride-hail gig workers earn $6.37 an hour after expenses

Toronto ride-hail drivers earn an average of $6.37 per hour worked, well below Ontario’s minimum wage of $16.55, after costs related to using a personal vehicle for work are factored in, according to a new report from RideFairTO on Monday.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Report exposes Uber’s poverty pay in Toronto Uber’s proposed Provincial policy is a poverty trap, not a gig work solution, say Ridefair, RDAO

Toronto, ON (February 12, 2024): Today, Ridefair Toronto and the Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario (RDAO) released a report titled “Legislated Poverty” to address Uber’s deceptive and poorly understood claim that the median earning for Toronto drivers comes to $33.35 per engaged hour. The report estimates that this figure corresponds to actual hourly earnings of […]

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Legislated Poverty

On February 12, 2024, the RideFair Coaliton and the Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario released a report documenting below-minimum wage pay in Toronto’s ride-hailing sector.  The report contextualizes Uber Canada’s report of drivers’ median “earnings per engaged hour,” $33.35 as of November 2023, and uses City of Toronto and Canada Revenue Agency data to estimate […]

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Spacing: Reining in Uber

In October, City Council temporarily paused issuing ride-hailing licenses for Lyft and Uber at 52,000, or ten times the pre-Uber average of taxi licenses. This pause has been supported by existing drivers but opposed by Uber and Lyft. In the days following this decision, we witnessed a resurfacing of Uber’s founding narrative, and while this […]

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Riccochet: Toronto’s cap on new Uber licences is good, actually

Uber and its supporters on city council and in the business community are lashing out after council voted to temporarily pause the issuing of new vehicle-for-hire licences. It’s a sharp departure for a city whose regulatory processes have long been captured by the multinational platform monopoly, and a positive and gutsy step for Toronto’s newly-elected […]

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City Council votes to pause licensing Uber and Lyft drivers until fleet optimization study concludes; pause translates into more money for drivers, fewer cars on the road and fewer emissions

Toronto, ON (Oct. 11, 2023): In the face of mounting evidence that the deregulation of the vehicle-for-hire industry under John Tory’s administration has had a detrimental impact on the livelihoods of drivers, congestion, the environment and public transit, Toronto City Council voted 16-7 to pause the licensing of new ride-hail drivers until staff reports back […]

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Building a just transition for for-hire drivers

Building a just transition for for-hire drivers Once a pathway to economic security, taxi and ride-hailing jobs have become some of the most precarious in the City, due in no small part to the industry’s deregulation under Mayor Tory in 2016.  At committee, Councillors introduced three measures aiming to ensure a more just transition for […]

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 RideFair Coalition calls on mayoral candidates to regulate Uber to support the City’s climate goals

Toronto, May 18, 2023 – Today, Toronto’s RideFair Coalition delivered an open letter to Toronto’s mayoral candidates to commit to ensuring City policies reflect its climate goals and reduce car dependency by regulating ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft and by promoting sustainable transportation alternatives. This open letter is signed by a cross-section of environmental […]

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Open Letter to Toronto Mayoral Candidates from Sustainable Transportation Advocates

Subject:          Open Letter to Toronto Mayoral Candidates re. sustainable transportation Date:               May 18, 2023 City climate goals undermined by actions to encourage car use: RideFair Coalition calling on Toronto’s Mayoral Candidates to revise City policy to encourage sustainable transportation, not greater car dependency  TransformTO, Toronto’s climate action plan, calls for 75% of school and work trips […]

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Tom Slee Report: High Emissions and Low Pay: Uber is Still Taking Regulators for a Ride

New computer simulation tool helps estimate ride-hailing impacts on driver incomes, communities: As reported in the Globe and Mail, author and technologist Tom Slee has released a report and accompanying computer simulation that can help communities with little or no data on ride-hailing activity understand the potential impacts of the industry on cities (congestion, emissions), […]

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