Earlier this month, with no notice, Able Taxi closed permanently.
Several calls to owner John Beck have gone unanswered, so it’s uncertain what prompted the sudden shuttering of the longtime business.
But the closure has affected everyone from those requiring a cab to get to work to those who need a ride home after an evening out. Even before Able closed, it was difficult, at times, to get a cab in a city that does not have Uber or other ride-share services.
The closure of Able put a number of qualified taxi drivers out of work. Other local companies are trying to hire them to meet the surging demand, but they say Orillia does not make it easy to operate a cab service.
Orillia Taxi Service owner Jennifer Denault said both her company and ACT Taxi are working to get Able Taxi’s former drivers back on the road.
“We're in the process of hiring all those drivers. All those drivers needed a job, so the drivers got submerged between the two companies,” Denault told OrilliaMatters, adding they are waiting for the city to approve the drivers’ licences.
“We’re just trying to let everybody know we’re working on it and we’re getting there as fast as we absolutely can to get the demand taken care of. Here they are, a month before Christmas, (and they) have no jobs. Obviously, our main concern is to get these guys licensed and on the road with us immediately.”
Meeting demand in the wake of Able’s unexpected closure has been challenging. Denault said she has tried to schedule an appointment with the city to expedite the process of onboarding the new drivers. However, she has not been able to get a meeting with Shawn Crawford, the city’s manager of legislative services, who oversees taxi licensing.
Residents and local business owners have long complained about taxi service levels. St. Louis Bar and Grill owner Brad Watters says he and his customers are frustrated with lengthy wait times and the related issues they present for those who have been drinking.
He said in the three years his business has been open, taxi service has not been acceptable.
“Our job ... is to protect those customers at our bar, and when you go to a customer and they say, ‘Can you get me a taxi?’ and you phone and it’s an hour-and-10-minute wait, take that for what it is. I don’t think that’s acceptable, and that’s not the fault of the taxi companies in Orillia — that’s just not enough taxis,” he said.
“We have a responsibility to get those people home safely, and if you don’t have a way home, you know, it’s not our job to lock them up while they wait. There needs to be more service.”
Denault says the issue primarily stems from loss of drivers through the pandemic and difficulty hiring new ones.
“COVID definitely affected us … We all suffered immensely. When everyone’s (in) a stay-at-home order and nobody’s going out anywhere, then nobody’s taking a taxi,” she said.
“I think a lot of people, just in general, moved to different jobs. I don’t think (we’re) the only industry that definitely is suffering … because people want security in their lives.”
She said it can take up to three weeks for a driver to get a vulnerable-sector check, which is required for drivers to transport minors. She hopes a solution can be found to expedite the process.
“I agree that there needs to be (a vulnerable-sector check),” she said. “If I’m going to put my own child in that vehicle, I’m going to make sure it’s somebody that I trust, and that I know it’s safe, but the fact is … how would you like to start a new job and wait three weeks to start it?”
She also pointed to city requirements that say taxis cannot be more than 10 years old, which, she says, is not a requirement in other area municipalities, such as Barrie.
“It would definitely be a benefit if the city was also able to remove the year restrictions because then, at that point, it would allow us taxi owners to buy up vehicles,” she said. “You can do the math and you can see that there’s still some really good vehicles out there. They may be a few years older, but they’re still in fantastic shape.”
In an effort to make onboarding drivers an easier process, the city removed requirements for vulnerable-sector checks for both ride-sharing companies and taxi service providers in February 2020, barring situations where minors would be transported.
Ridesharing company Steer, which originally operated as Facedrive, consequently came to the city in 2020.
“As per the bylaw, the vulnerable-sector check is only required for a driver that transports an unaccompanied person that is under 18 years of age. Other than in that situation, only a standard criminal-record check is required,” said Crawford.
“At that time of consultation with ride-share companies, the policy in place was that their drivers were not permitted to transport unaccompanied persons under 18 years anyway, so they were not concerned with the vulnerable-sector check requirement.
“With this change, taxicab drivers could be onboarded much more quickly because all that was required was a standard criminal-record check in order to handle the majority of customer calls.”
The move came after city council’s 2018 decision to pass a bylaw permitting ride-sharing companies, like Uber, to operate in the city, with the caveat they would require vulnerable-sector checks, just the same as local taxi drivers.
In the end, Uber did not come to Orillia, and the company ultimately blacklisted the city from its service area.
Although Crawford said the city “only received positive feedback from the taxi industry” on the changes, Denault said they created “more headaches” for taxi drivers.
“In order to efficiently pick up customers as quickly as possible, it’s wherever those cars are (that determines) who gets that call,” Denault explained. “If, all of a sudden, I’ve got a driver in that particular area where the call is, but he can’t pick up … a person under the age of 18 by themselves, now I have to reroute him somewhere else and reroute another driver up. So, I mean, it didn’t save anything.”
Now, the city is looking to find ways to attract ride-sharing services, like Uber, to Orillia. Newly elected Mayor Don McIsaac said it was an issue on the campaign trail.
“During campaigning, ride sharing was raised often at the door and was identified as an issue that is important to residents,” McIsaac said in a statement to OrilliaMatters. “We are actively working with ride-share companies to get them to activate in Orillia and I am getting weekly updates on progress.”
Watters agreed Uber is the appropriate solution for the city.
“The shortage of taxis and the risk that that provides to the City of Orillia has been a concern, and I had heard in the past that they were going to bring something else in, but I think the solution is pretty simple: This town better get Uber pretty quick,” he said.
However, Denault worries bringing in Uber would be devastating for Orillia’s taxi companies.
“Absolutely, it will kill us. We’re not in a population where Uber is required. (We only have) a population of 31,000 people,” she said. “You bring in Uber into a little town (and) they’re going to only come out when it’s busy for them, and then what do we do? We rely on those busy nights to suffice the entire week.”
Although he views Uber as the appropriate solution for the city, Watters also agreed it could wipe local taxi services out. He said he has been approached about opening a taxi service, but has been reluctant to do so in case Uber comes to the city.
“As soon as you open it up, Uber’s going to wipe you out, so there’s no win-win here for anybody,” he said. “There’s no, ‘OK, let’s bring in a new taxi company,’ because the taxi companies aren’t going to invest the money knowing that Uber could come in at any time.”
