London riders could be the big winners in the battle between taxi and Uber drivers waged daily on city streets.

The city is looking to level the playing field between the two, with a report headed to a city council committee recommending increasing costs and licencing for personal driving services like Uber and easing the burden on taxis.

Uber, the global ride-hailing colossus that sees itself as a technology company, rather than a traditional ride-for-hire company, pulled into London a year ago, turning the taxi industry upside-down and forcing the city to reconsider its rules governing the industry.

For consumers, the biggest change proposed would leave taxi drivers — their rates now regulated by the city — free to reduce fares when they want, but they wouldn’t be allowed to raise them above a maximum set by the city.

Uber has been undercutting taxi fares, one of many irritants to the traditional industry about the app-based ride service that allows anyone with a clean driving record and a vehicle approved by Uber to hit the streets.

If the changes go through, riders would be able to haggle down fares and Uber wouldn’t be allowed to charge the higher fares it does — known as “surge pricing” — when demand spikes and fewer cars are on the road.

Already, the proposals are being applauded by the taxi industry.

“This is on the right track. (City) staff have heard our arguments. They listened to us and have taken what we said into consideration,” said Roger Caranci, a former city councillor who works as a consultant to the taxi sector in London.

“This industry has been regulated for a reason,” he said.

Uber said in a statement that it’s looking at the report by city staff released Wednesday.

The company remains “committed to working with the city to develop smart regulations for this new industry, as Toronto, Niagara Region, Ottawa and Edmonton have recently done,” said Susie Heath, spokesperson for Uber Canada.

Since Uber’s arrival in Southwestern Ontario last June, in a roll-out in major cities across the region, taxi operators have argued the company’s drivers using their own personal vehicles have been able to unfairly avoid the overhead that traditional operators pay — everything from commercial liability insurance, to security cameras in their vehicles and rules dictating when taxis must be replaced.

Besides allowing drivers to reduce fares but not exceed a maximum rate, the proposed changes would iron out many of the differences between the industry’s traditional and ride-sharing sectors. Some of that would come by imposing new rules on personal vehicles for hire, and some by freeing the traditional industry from requirements it must now meet.

Among the other proposals:

Uber drivers would need to carry commercial insurance and have cameras installed in their vehicles, just as taxi drivers must do.

They’d also be subject to city licencing, the same as taxi operators.

City hall would drop existing requirements for English-language testing, medical exams and vehicle emergency lights.

Vehicle inspections will be brought in for older-model vehicles.

“The underlying principle here is levelling the playing field,” said Orest Katolyk, the city’s chief bylaw enforcement officer.

“We are looking at every regulation with consumer protection, health and safety and accessibility in mind.”

London has laid dozens of charges against Uber drivers for violating its taxi bylaw while working on a new bylaw to overhaul the vehicle-for-hire business expected to be completed this fall.

A recent Ipsos poll commissioned by the city suggested nearly two-thirds of Londoners want Uber to follow the same city rules as taxis and limousines.

The latest proposals go to council’s community and protective services committee Tuesday, whose recommendations go to full council on which some

politicians have been sympathetic to Uber.

“It has to go to council and I don’t know what will happen there,” Katolyk said. “But I truly believe the recommendations we have made streamline what we have in place now.”

Among the significant hurdles the changes would mean for Uber drivers are commercial insurance and safety cameras, costs the tradtional industry bears.

Commercial liability insurance costs anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000 a year, and the interior and exterior cameras — hard-wired into the vehicle, and accessible only by London police and bylaw enforcement officers — cost more than $1,000 per vehicle.

“We recognize technology is out there, but there has to be police checks and licences across the board,” said Katolyk.

In London and elsewhere in Canada, cities have traditionally set the drop fare charged before a taxi ride begins and the amount that can be charged thereafter by distance.

Taxis had been asking for a lower student rate or the power to adjust fees and offer discounts to groups, and now they could have it, Katolyk added.

“It would be the drivers’ discretion to discount fares. There is a standard fare, but they can offer rates for students or groups.”

Based in San Francisco, Uber uses a digital smartphone app that matches those needing rides with people who will pick them up in their personal vehicle for a fee. Payment is made through the app using a credit card only.

Uber has argued because it’s a tech firm, not a dispatcher,it doesn’t to operate under traditional taxi bylaws.

Other major Canadian cities, such as Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto, have made some concessions to accommodate Uber.

ndebono@postmedia.com

Twitter @NormatLFPress

Key changes proposed to city’s rules: