The first public debate over new regulations for taxis, limousines and companies like Uber will be a tense test for those loyal to John Tory — and for the mayor who has unequivocally backed the proposed changes.

Uber has quietly endorsed the staff-recommended changes, which would relax requirements for the traditional taxi industry while legalizing services like UberX that currently offer rides at discounted fares with unlicensed drivers. But Uber faces a significant hurdle at the six-member committee, which is under pressure from both Tory and high-ranking factions within the taxi industry’s complicated hierarchy.

They are industry members who stand to lose the most from more competition and who aren’t interested in sharing the road — an exclusive group who own once-lucrative taxi plates and who run large taxi brokerages.

They are expected to appear en masse at Thursday’s meeting. More than 80 people are signed up to speak and more are expected to pack the meeting. That has already forced staff to move proceedings into the larger council chambers instead of the regular second-floor room.

Speaking to the Star from a trade mission in China on Wednesday, Tory urged the committee not to stall the new regulations. The mayor said he has personally lobbied councillors on that point.

“I’m very fervently of the hope that under Councillor (Cesar) Palacio’s chairmanship they will, first of all, have a fair and rational discussion about this, because I think people of Toronto are owed that,” Tory said. “I would be very insistent that the committee send forward something that is rational and balanced for a discussion by the full city council.”

Tory said Wednesday he’s unhappy with the way Uber entered Toronto — disrupting traditional taxi and limo services, their business model around the world — but called the regulations a “huge step forward for fairness.”

The committee could decide to refer the regulations back to staff for further work or defer the debate to a later date — which would be a blow to Tory, who promised the taxi industry a “level playing field” by this spring.

It’s ultimately up to council, which next meets May 3, to adopt any new rules. Even if the proposed regulations are altered by the committee, council can reverse those changes and make their own.

Though Uber has limited its public comments following the release of the draft regulations, in an interview with the Star, Uber Canada’s general manager Ian Black backed what was written ahead of the committee meeting.

“We see them as building a good consensus, creating room for innovation and creating room for the ridesharing model in a reasonable way,” Black said. “It really does create more competition, we think. We think it’s really going to improve the experience of riders and drivers in the city, so generally we’re quite supportive.”

He said there are “some things” Uber may take issue with. He would not specify.

Councillors opposing the reforms say they spent years trying to make sure taxis were safer for passengers, and the new rules would roll back much of that progress — ending the requirement for snow tires and driver training for both taxis and Uber and not requiring closed-circuit cameras in Uber cars.

“It will mean that when you get into a vehicle for a trip, whether it’s a taxi or an Uber vehicle, you will have less safety,” said Councillor Gord Perks, who argued the regulations should be sent back to staff to create a regime that would “protect the public interest and create a level playing field … This report does neither.”

Kristine Hubbard, whose family runs one of the larger brokerages, Beck Taxi, said members of the public should care about how well they’re protected.

“That we would reduce in any way the safety measures that have been implemented over the years — again, I don’t see how that’s what’s best for our city,” she said. She argued there shouldn’t be two sets of rules for drivers doing essentially the same thing.

Tory said the new rules sufficiently deal with major concerns such as criminal checks and insurance. The rest, he said, will level out through increased competition.

“The public will deal with those things, you know, by taking their business where they choose to take it depending on the quality of the experience they have,” he said.

Some are watching the debate more cautiously — including drivers who, though they protest Uber, believe they have long been shortchanged by their own brokerages and middle managers.

“Chief complaint for the drivers was, ‘I am making lower than minimum wage,’” said Jahangir Sartaj, a father of four who has been a shift driver for eight years. “Despite all the hoopla in the media about negativism about this ridesharing economy, people have bought into it. And we, instead of improving ourselves, we continue to fight it with zero results.”

He is part of a small group who recently met with Black, Uber’s general manager. Sartaj says he was told drivers would be able to sign agreements with the company guaranteeing they’d make more than twice the minimum wage without having to work 75 to 80 hours a week during a trial period with UberX.

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Black confirmed the meeting and the trial offer, which includes looking at ways to help drivers lease cars with few cancellation penalties.

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