Uber meeting with potential Hamilton drivers

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(Updated)
The ride-sharing app Uber is closer to rolling into Hamilton. Wednesday, Uber officials were in town speaking to anyone interested in becoming one of their drivers. But it has the taxi industry and some city councillors steaming.

Uber says it got really good feedback from its meetings, and it knows there is a market in Hamilton because they often have people on the app looking to see whether the service is available here, as it is in 250 other cities around the world.

You book a ride online, nearby registered drivers respond, and you get a route and an approximate price which is charged to your credit card. No money changing hands.

Customers like it because a ride is often much cheaper than cab fare. We’ve learned that drivers really like the platform because it cuts out the middleman, and allows them to take home more income.

Many hopeful Uber drivers here have already filled out online applications, and now they’re just waiting for their police and driving checks to clear.

(Did you get a sense of when they plan to set up shop here?) “All I got was imminent.”

But Hamilton has told Uber it can’t operate without breaking current taxi bylaws and bylaw officers came to check out the meeting too. That infuriated Bashir Osble, a driver who says Uber will take the taxi industry out of the dark ages: “The drivers on the road servicing the clients don’t get a license. So you work for someone who has a license? Now who rents a license from someone who has a license.”

He says Uber allows drivers to be their own boss, and drivers are rated so they have incentive to give good service: “(How much money would you make?) 10 times what I’m making now. Uber only takes a percentage. If I don’t take a trip I don’t pay. My overhead is minimal.”

Taxi companies say they are very worried about Uber. The owner of Blue Line tells us he can’t compete with a company that can offer the same service without following the same city rules. For example, a thousand dollars worth of insurance every month for every vehicle. And he says the city makes a lot of money off the taxi industry, but doesn’t stand to make a lot off of Uber.

The city has plans to meet with Uber, but says the company will be ticketed if it tries to operate without taxi licenses.

City Councillor Sam Merulla: “I don’t see a will from them in working with our existing parameters. I think they’re trying to create their own parameters, which is a concern.

But Uber got the same message from Toronto, and it’s still popular in that city.

Xavier Van Chau, Uber Canada: “We see ourselves as a new business model. A platform technology connecting drivers and riders.”

There is currently some legal proceedings with the licensing office but the big development is we’ve seen mayor Tory indicate his interest in looking for a regulatory solution for Uber.