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Carleton Grant, executive director of the city’s municipal licensing and standards division, said at a press briefing that the proposal represented a “data-driven” approach that would help reduce the industry’s negative impacts on emissions, transit ridership and congestion, “while considering the ability of people to access a range of transportation options.”

The cap would be implemented as “one-in, one-out,” which staff described as an “equitable approach” that would allow new drivers to enter into the industryÌýas current drivers leave.ÌýDrivers using zero-emission and wheelchair-accessible vehicles would be exempt.

Grant said that unlike council’s abortive attempt to introduce a cap last year, the new recommendations were backed by extensive research and consultation.

But in a statement, Uber spokesperson Keerthana Rang accused the city of doubling down on its misguided attempts to regulate the industry “without any industry consultation or accurate data.”

“Instead of focusing on the issues that matter to Torontonians, Mayor Chow is once again putting affordability, reliability and safety of an important transportation option at risk,” she said.

The company says the city’s own report shows ride-hailing is an important transportation option that allows residents to access public transportation and avoid drunk driving, and that a cap would increase wait times and prices for passengers, limit mobility in areas without adequate transit and reduce earning opportunities for drivers.

According to the report, the number of PTC drivers and trips are increasing, but the industry is becoming less efficient.ÌýAs of September, PTC drivers made 212,000 trips per day in Toronto, but about 33 per cent of the distance they travelled was spent cruising for passengers. That was up from a low of 15 per cent in May 2022.Ìý

PTCs made up about 4.5 per cent of vehicle travel citywide, but 14 per cent in the congested downtown core. The vehicle-for-hire sector, which includes PTCs, taxis and limos, accounted for between four and six per cent of the transportation sector’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The report also determined that between about 40 and 60 per cent of PTC users would otherwise take transit for their trips, and estimated that the TTC could be losing out on tens of thousands of paying trips per day. However, 34 per cent of PTC users surveyed said they connect to transit using PTCs, suggesting app-based rides can improve access to public transportation.

An analysis of vehicle-for-hire wages found that when accounting for all the time PTC drivers spend on the apps — not just the “engaged” time between accepting a trip and dropping off a passenger — their median income earlier this year was $22.46 an hour. But after expenses such as fuel, insurance and repairs, it was just $5.97.

Grant stressed that the proposed cap was only intended to address policy objectives such as reducing emissions and congestion, and said he couldn’t speculate on its effect on wages. He noted that employment standards are regulated by the Ontario government, not the city.Ìý

Uber argued the city’s wage analysis was seriously flawed, because it excluded some trips that crossed municipal boundaries in the GTA, didn’t account for drivers working on multiple apps and didn’t acknowledge that drivers can deduct expenses from their revenues to get tax breaks. The company asserted that last week º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍødrivers earned $30.10 per hour of engaged time, not including tips.

Last October, ChowÌýled council in a surprise vote to impose a capÌýon ride-hailing licences, arguing that preventing the pool of drivers from growing would boost wages for people already working for the apps, many of whom are racialized, low-income or newcomers. ButÌýtwo months later council was forced to rescind the freeze, afterÌýUber filed a court challengeÌýalleging it was “discriminatory” and enacted “by ambush.”

Speaking to reporters at an unrelated press conference Tuesday morning, Chow said she still believes the cap is necessary even if staff can’t say it will boost driver pay.

“A third of (rideshare) cars are without passengers,” she said. “Cars driving downtown empty is not good for congestion, it’s not good for greenhouse gas emissions.”

Asked whether riders should expect increased fare prices and reduced availability if the cap passes, Chow suggested there are enough drivers to cushion consumers from price hikes. Her concerns lie more with the drivers who “can’t make ends meet,” she said.ÌýAt $6 an hour, “how can they survive?”

In a letter toÌýOntario Labour Minister David Piccini that Chow released Tuesday, she urged the province to amend the gig worker law set to come into force next July to account for the time drivers spend without customers when determining their minimum pay.

Chris Pawlak, who has been driving for Uber for nine years, agreed that the city should set a ceiling for PTC drivers. He told the Star the money he earns through the app is his main source of income, but he now has to work at least twice as long to make what he did six or seven years ago. He said he sometimes doesn’t check how much he makes per hour because it’s so frustrating.

Pawlak blamed the drop on Uber’s new pricing model and too many drivers on the road. He said he didn’t know what the right number of drivers was, but “it’s just out of control what’s going on.”

Thorben Wieditz, a board member for not-for-profit advocacy group RideFairTO, said that capping drivers at current levels merely maintains an untenable status quo, and the city should be eyeing a much lower limit.

At current levels “no one can make money,” he said. “Traffic congestion has increased … The time that drivers spend empty has increased.” The proposed cap “doesn’t really help anything.”

The staff recommendations will be debated at next Tuesday’s meeting of Chow’s executive committee before going to council on Dec. 17.Ìý

With files from Ben Cohen