The city of Toronto's legal tango with ride-hailing giant Uber continues, but it's not easy for the public to see what is actually happening.

City council recently changed a bylaw with the intent of ensuring Uber is outside the law if it does not get a taxi brokerage licence, something the company says it is willing to do. UberX, where non-cabbies use their personal vehicles to transport people for pay, remains, the city says, completely illegal.

However, the number of UberX drivers charged is, the city recently told the Star, 104. That's only two more than the figure provided in late summer.

"Every taxi driver I've talked to since last month has said to me the city's doing nothing," Councillor Janet Davis told city licensing boss Tracey Cook at city council on Wednesday.

Cook's somewhat cagey response to Davis and others suggest a significant number of new charges against UberX drivers, or some other enforcement action by the city, is imminent.

Some of Cook's statements to council:

"It is not prudent for me to divulge at every step of the way the manner in which we are undertaking investigations so as to not jeopardize any future actions we need to take ... Enforcement is under way.

"I have been very clear that if UberX continues there will be enforcement efforts and those are being undertaken as we speak"

"We are currently undertaking numerous investigations so we are having success"

Cook, who has drawn the admiration of many at city hall for her handling of an enormously complex and contentious file, said with understatement: "We're in an interesting time with respect to ground transportation options for the public"

What Cook isn't saying is that any new charges will shut the service down. Uber claims 16,000 UberX drivers in Toronto and, as Councillor Jon Burnside noted, the enforcement efforts hit "a drop in the bucket".

