City council has approved several tweaks to London’s taxi regulations that are warmly welcomed by Uber, the bylaw-busting digital dispatcher that will be regulated under the new rules.

There were reservations from some politicians — chiefly councillors Josh Morgan and Bill Armstrong and deputy mayor Paul Hubert — but council Tuesday approved the changes that officially upend the traditional cab industry.

“It’s good,” Chris Schafer of Uber Canada said after the vote. “We’re moving forward with recommendations for a bylaw that lines up well with what other Ontario cities (have done).”

With the changes, Uber and other app-based dispatchers, dubbed transportation network companies, will be brought under city regulations bureaucrats say are key to protecting consumers and ensuring public safety.

One tweak will allow so-called surge pricing for app-based dispatchers. Rather than the city-mandated drop rate ($3.50) and per-kilometre cost, cabbies can charge much more at busy times.

That irked Morgan, who questioned what benefit it would provide Londoners using apps to get rides from traditional taxis, that, unlike Uber, have a cap on the number of vehicles allowed.

Coun. Maureen Cassidy noted surge pricing won’t be allowed for street hails, only for app-based rides when the passenger knows the cost well in advance.

“It comes down to consumer choice,” she said.

Hubert questioned the rule allowing Uber and other transportation network companies to have their drivers’ criminal checks done by a third party — the Cobourg police force, which is Uber’s choice.

“It puzzles me that we’re using the record check service that’s requested by Uber,” Hubert said.

He wanted that part of the bylaw changes defeated. It was approved 7-4 with Morgan, Armstrong, Hubert and Anna Hopkins opposed. Councillors Phil Squire, Stephen Turner, Harold Usher and Jared Zaifman were absent.

City staff have said the updated taxi bylaw that would regulate Uber and other firms like it will be in place by March 2017.

pmaloney@postmedia.com