More than 90,000 Toronto drivers for Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing services will have to take mandatory training under new rules passed by city council Thursday.

But taxi industry representatives, safety advocates and even some councillors who voted for the new “vehicle for hire” regulations — which also apply to traditional taxi drivers, whose mandatory training was scrapped by city council when it legalized Uber in 2016 — wanted tighter rules.

“It’s a small win,” said Cheryl Hawkes, whose son Nicholas Cameron, 28, was killed in the back seat of an Uber vehicle while travelling to Pearson airport with his girlfriend in March 2018. The 23-year-old driver, new to Toronto and on his second day driving for Uber, dropped his phone and then veered into Gardiner Expressway traffic into the path of a BMW.

Councillors “could have done much more today, but I think the scales are falling from people’s eyes about what these companies are about, which is adding a constant flow of drivers,” Hawkes said.

Drivers must show proof, by the end of 2020, that they have passed a “third-party training program.” City staff will decide what form the training will take and, council instructed, consider “an in car and/or class component” and skills such as defensive driving.

Other changes include requiring that app-dispatched drivers have three years’ driving experience, up from one, and affix their smartphones or other devices to the vehicle interior.

Uber Canada said in a statement: “We thank the City of Toronto, councillors and city staff for their work during this process. We look forward to continuing to work closely with them on this matter.”

Lyft said: “Toronto’s updated ride-sharing bylaw allows Lyft to continue prioritizing safety, while ensuring Torontonians will benefit from a reliable and cost-effective form of transportation. We look forward to working with the City of Toronto as the revised bylaw is implemented.”

Kristine Hubbard, operations manager of Beck Taxi, said the minor changes didn’t reflect debate where more than one councillor said they failed Torontonians by imposing too few rules, amid intense lobbying of Mayor John Tory and councillors by Uber, back in 2016.

“Will the training be real, like ours, or watching a five-minute video? We don’t know,” said Hubbard, whose company implemented its own mandatory one-week training, offered in partnership with Centennial College, that includes in-car defensive-driving training.

Council passed the new rules 22-1. Only Councillor Gord Perks, who moved a failed motion to kick ride-hailing services out of Toronto, was opposed. He said council has surrendered its responsibility to protect citizens to companies that rely on precariously employed drivers.

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