Anti-Uber Demonstrations in Toronto get Dangerous

On Wednesday, Taxi drivers in Toronto converged on city hall to protest the ride-hailing app Uber. This video was caught during the protest. Taxi drivers say Uber is breaking Toronto’s by-laws and cutting into the Taxi drivers’ profits.

Here’s what people are saying:

“How nice of all the cab companies to give Uber a free day of no competition and free advertising.” –Greg 

“This taxi driver thinks that the Uber driver is obligated to stop. If this taxi driver would have gotten hurt or killed, I think the Uber driver could have successfully argued that he feared for his safety. I understand that these taxi drivers are caught in the middle. Government, insurance companies, taxi license owners etc are taking too much from them. They cannot compete with Uber or amateur drivers. The taxi is obsolete just like the milkman.” -Mike

“The irony of the ongoing Toronto taxi protest, which is targeting the City based on its policy permitting Uber to operate on an interim basis until the release of a report on new regulations in Spring 2016, is that the taxi drivers themselves do not own their respective permits and would be far better served working with Uber. They pay significant fees for the right to use these permits on a daily basis which are owned, often in combination with the vehicles themselves, in very large numbers by a very small number of extremely wealthy individuals. These individuals, for all intents and purposes, maintain what is, aside from Uber, absolute control and monopolisation over the taxi industry. The drivers themselves generally work very long hours and make very little money. As they protest, they are effectively shooting themselves in the foot. Intentionally causing congestion, making it difficult for people to get to and from work, refusing to pick up passengers, and now assaulting UberX drivers / vehicles will certainly not help win over the hearts of the public, whom are already frustrated with the daily behavior of taxi drivers and now have no alternative but to contact Uber when needing a taxi.” -Blair

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What do you think?