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Furthermore, the decision to grant an injunction (which will almost certainly be appealed) won’t remedy the fact that Toronto’s archaic taxi regulations are badly in need of updating. The city should not be capping the number of taxi licenses, which just artificially inflates the value of plates while supply struggles to keep up with demand, or mandating that limos set minimum fares or keep a certain stretch-to-sedan fleet ratio. Taxi drivers have a legitimate gripe in contesting that they city requires they adhere to strict licensing and safety standards, while Uber drivers operate by the company’s own rules. But the solution is not to ban Uber across Toronto and other Canadian municipalities; the solution is to finally take a torch to the old, outdated taxi rules.

That is not to suggest cities should adopt a “Wild West” approach to taxi licensing. Indeed, while Uber says it has its own policy of monitoring driver and vehicle performance, the odd incident has been known to occur, as has obviously occurred with conventional taxis in the past. The solution, thus, lies somewhere between the status quo and a free-for-all, wherein the city has some oversight in terms of safety and insurance, but at a suitable distance such that the market itself decides which cars (and drivers) to keep on the road. It’s not totally taxi anarchy, but it’s not the heavy bureaucratic hand to which the industry has grown accustomed, either. The sooner that change happens, the better: people have places to go, and downtown’s in a jam.

National Post