Article content continued

Knock-on effect

Re: Potential Of Apps To Tackle Gridlock, Chris Selley, April 25.

There are about 5,000 taxi drivers in Toronto and about 15,000 drivers registered on the Uber platform. The effect of Uber on gridlock in the city is likely both under-analyzed and under-reported by the media. One of the reasons Toronto began regulating how many taxicabs are on the road so many years ago was to avoid gridlock on the streets. It seems intuitive that allowing “ride-sharing” can only lead to more traffic as more drivers try to make a buck acting like taxicab drivers in their own vehicles. It may be true that customers pay less for rides and get picked up more quickly by having many more vehicles on the road to make that happen. However, the cost to the greater society in lost productivity as a result of gridlock needs a closer look.

Trevor Amon, Victoria.

Gaps in his argument

Re: Don’t Blame The Media For Islamophobia, Jonathan Kay.

For many years I have challenged Haroon Siddiqui over his thinly veiled hatred of Israel. Although he was always sure to temper his incessantly anti-Zionistic columns with the disingenuous balm that Israel has the right to exist, he never lost an opportunity to rely on the deceptive and inciting tactics that he now uses to so accuse the National Post.

According to one such column, Siddiqui espouses that Shias and Sunnis, despite their centuries-old distrust and hatred for one another, would immediately cease hostilities coincident with Israel making peace with the Palestinians. More commonly, to disguise his true feelings about Israel and to fool those who had no vested interest to challenge his Middle East propaganda, many columns reliably inserted a quote from a Jewish, anti-Zionistic spokesperson-du-jour, provided to prop up his biased viewpoints by misleading his readers into trusting he knew of what he spoke. Correctly, Siddiqui is the pot that is calling the kettle black.

Joel L. Goldman, Toronto.