A smartphone shows Uber’s application in Delhi, India, April 17, 2015. Uber allows cab drivers who subscribe to pick up additional fares they might not be able to get through a typical taxi dispatch firm. The UberX platform has been particularly controversial because it allows unlicensed drivers to offer rides using their own vehicles.Kuni Takahashi/The New York Times
The City of Montreal's taxi bureau is cracking down on ride-sharing service UberX and has seized 40 vehicles from drivers in recent weeks.
UberX is a car-sharing smartphone app that links clients to drivers in privately owned vehicles, without a taxi licence, to provide rides at prices lower than typical cab fares.
The city and the province consider UberX a form of illegal transport and Montreal's taxi bureau has been hitting back since early March.
"We consider this a form of illegal transport because these people don't have a permit that allows them to transport people," Alain Rochon, director of the bureau, said in an interview Monday. "These people are contravening the law."
Rochon said a first seizure includes a $350 fine as well as costs associated with the impounding that bring the total to about $1,000.
Montreal is just the latest battleground as taxi officials fight to keep the San Francisco-based tech giant's fleet of licensed and unlicensed vehicles off city streets. In some jurisdictions, those skirmishes have spilled into the courtroom.
"Historically, the taxi bureau has fought against all forms of illegal transport," Rochon said. "Effectively, one of the latest ones to appear is the application UberX."
Uber allows cab drivers who subscribe to pick up additional fares they might not be able to get through a typical taxi dispatch firm.
The UberX platform has been particularly controversial because it allows unlicensed drivers to offer rides using their own vehicles.
Such trips are not eligible under the insurance plans that cover licensed taxi rides, and opponents describe this as only one of many safety risks associated with the practice.
UberX launched in several Canadian cities in 2014 and is currently present in Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax. It has shuttered in Calgary and Vancouver.
Uber argues developing a mobile app that links customers to nearby rides qualifies it as a technology company and not a transport operation.
Quebec Transport Minister Robert Poeti said there's no grey zone when it comes to UberX. "With UberX, it's totally illegal right now and when you do something illegal in front of the law, you could have a few problems," Poeti said.