Late on August 4, two people were fatally gunned down outside the Muzik nightclub after rapper Drake’s afterparty spilled out into the streets. Now we find out that just before one of the victims was murdered, she was refused a cab ride by a licenced Toronto cabbie because she was a ‘short fare’. That is, the cab driver thought “her estimated $8 fare was too low” so he didn’t bother to pick her up. Minutes later she was struck by a random bullet.
As a result, a representative of the Toronto cabbie’s union wants “tougher penalties for cabbies who refuse short fares.” The Toronto “director of bylaw enforcement called the practice of turning down short fares ‘despicable’”.
These would be the same people who only a few short weeks ago were all in high dudgeon about the presence of Uber cabbies on Toronto’s streets.
So let me get this straight, the solution to the short fare problem is more bureaucratic enforcement of rules and regulations, and – presumably – more form-filling by complainants. But the solution is definitely not more competition in the marketplace.
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