Complaints against taxis have been the highest they’ve ever been in the past two years, according to an analysis of data used by the City of Ottawa for 3-1-1 calls. The number of 3-1-1 calls to bylaw related to taxis increased from 662 in 2013 to 770 in 2015.
Ottawa taxi companies saw increased competition with the illegal arrival of Uber in October of 2014, which recently became the first officially licensed private transportation company in Ottawa after two years of illegal operations. For frequent cabbie passenger, Zach Whalen, the rise in complaints doesn’t come as a surprise.
“I’ve been in lots of rides with drivers who were talking on their cell phones – like holding their phones, not just a handset,” said Whalen. “Once a driver on his phone was so distracted pulling into the Queensway that he almost drove into a truck hauling a boat.
“The propellor hanging off the back was actually overtop of the hood. That’s how close we were.”
Of the wards in Ottawa, Somerset had the highest amount of taxi complaints to bylaw services in 2015, but Rideau-Vanier saw the most dramatic increase from 2014 to 2015. Between the two years alone, Rideau-Vanier saw a 40 percent increase in calls, from 87 to 122. For passengers like Whalen, the numbers could be higher if more people considered calling bylaw.
Whalen, himself, has never made a call.
“I should have a couple times,” he said. “But, mainly, I was just glad to get to my destination so I never called anybody in.”
For Ottawa resident Maxime Pigeon, it’s easier to scrutinize taxis than to scrutinize Uber.
“You regularly see them [taxis] fail to signal, roll their stops, cut people off and weave,” says Pigeon. “In their defence, Uber cars are not marked so one cannot notice bad Uber drivers.”
Ottawa cabbies, incidentally, are arguing that taxis are in fact safer than ride-sharing services like Uber, says Ottawa cabbie Watany Ben Jamil.
“With Uber you don’t have a camera in the car to make sure in case of harassment or abuse,” says Jamil. “Forget about the price, it’s the service. You have all the good features [with taxis]: camera, security and insurance. You are fully covered. What else does the customer want?”
The most current Vehicle for Hire By-law, which was enacted on Sept. 30, 2016, proposes that Uber vehicles do not require cameras, despite efforts by councillors to make them compulsory. Council will be re-visiting the issue of cameras in the fall of 2017. In the current bylaw, however, taxis must operate with a security camera.
Uber arrived in Ottawa in October of 2014 as an illegal ride-sharing service that wasn’t recognized under Ottawa bylaws. The same year, the number of bylaw taxi complaints declined from 662 in 2013 to a low of 592 in 2014. A change in the amount of complaints could be because of a number of factors, including an increase in Uber rides, says Dr. Tripat Gill, an expert on consumer behaviour at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University.
“Usually when there’s a new competitor you do compare the options,” says Gill. “In other product categories, like new smartphones that have many more features than the other one, then you may re-assess your attitude toward the other options. It could just be a matter of consequence of competition.”
Uber has earned significantly higher customer service ratings, according to studies done by the City of Ottawa in Oct. 2015. According to participants in the city’s Taxicab and Limousine Regulations and Service Review, participants rated their overall taxi experiences 3.9 on a scale of 10. That’s in contrast with Uber’s rating of 9.1. Customers reported taxi drivers as uncaring and spent more time on their phones.
