Article content continued

“It’s not entirely surprising to me, either.”

After all, she said, Uber has been operating illegally in the city since October 2014.

Deans likes that Uber wants to comply with the requirements of the proposed bylaw before the regulations begin. Uber wants to meet with city officials on a monthly basis to update them on its compliance.

The city will continue cracking down on Uber drivers if council on Wednesday votes in favour of a dual licensing system, Deans said.

“We certainly won’t lighten up on that,” she said.

Deans wanted answers from Uber on two items: The company’s plan to operate after council’s vote and its plan to meet the city’s insurance requirements.

Councillors have been skeptical about Uber’s insurance scheme. The city wants to require both cabbies and Uber drivers to have $5 million in coverage. Cabbies seem fine with the requirement. In his response to Deans, Black committed Uber to complying with the insurance conditions.

Lobbying by the taxi industry and Uber continued Tuesday at city hall.

With few options remaining, the debate over requiring cameras in Uber cars has become the taxi industry’s Waterloo. The city requires only taxis to have in-car cameras under the proposed bylaw.

A motion at committee last week calling for cameras in Uber cars failed with only three out of 10 councillors supporting College Coun. Rick Chiarelli’s revision.

The topic was still hot Tuesday.

Uber’s Chris Schafer wrote in an e-mail to council “there’s a possibility that this issue might be brought up again” on Wednesday, while providing examples of jurisdictions that don’t require cameras in Uber cars.