Uber drivers charged

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The city of Hamilton has charged 8 Uber drivers for violating taxi by-laws. It makes Hamilton the latest community to lay charges against drivers in the ride-sharing service. The 8 drivers were charged following a month long investigation. The charges include operating a taxi without a licence, driving a vehicle not approved for use as a taxi and failing to provide a copy of third-party insurance coverage to the city of Hamilton.

“The bylaw itself has a maximum penalty of 25 thousand dollars per charge and that’s written in the council approved bylaw” said Ken Leenderste, Director of Licensing for the city of Hamilton. “Traditionally what happens we’ve seen fines anywhere in the neighbourhood of 250 to 500 dollars.” Hamilton isn’t the only city to charge Uber drivers. Over a hundred Toronto drivers are also facing charges.

Ken Leenderts says the city recognizes that times are changing and will be rewriting it’s bylaw in the next few years to reflect this new shared economy. “We’ve seen some changes in Toronto. We’ve seen changes across North America as municipalities start to accept the change but from an enforcement point of view we have to focus on current legislation.”

Uber has been operating in the city of Hamilton since July and although the riders we spoke with really like the service the taxi industry has been pushing back calling it unfair competition. We contacted Uber to comment on the charges and they issued the following statement. ” Rather than take enforcement action, we believe that a regulatory solution is the best path forward and look forward to continuing our work with the city of Hamilton to establish a regulated framework for ridesharing in the city.”