Jenn Harvey posted a simple question to her Facebook page: “How do we allow Uber in Orillia?”
“I did not expect it go this big,” the general manager of Studabakers Beachside told OrilliaMatters.
She received plenty of replies to her post, and Harvey has now created a petition, which, as of early Friday afternoon, had collected 934 signatures.
“Consumers deserve a choice of transportation options in Orillia, including ride-share programs such as Uber,” Harvey wrote on the change.org petition.
Her experience working at the downtown bar and restaurant has convinced her of the need for more options in town.
“Over the last week, I had a couple of issues with trying to get customers home safely,” she said. “The weather was terrible. The wait times for cabs were crazy.”
During one call, she said, she was told a cab wouldn’t be available for four hours.
Harvey isn’t the only one who has had that experience.
“I’ve talked to a lot of restaurant and bar owners in Orillia, and it’s all the same: We need more choice for clientele to be able to go out and get home safely,” she said.
The previous city council passed a new transportation bylaw last August, licensing and regulating both taxi and ride-share services in Orillia. Prior to that change, only taxi companies were regulated.
One of the most contentious parts of the bylaw was the requirement of drivers to have vulnerable-sector checks.
“(Uber) had requested several changes be made to the draft bylaw,” said Shawn Crawford, the city’s manager of legislative services.
Crawford said the city agreed to about 98 per cent of those changes, but getting rid of vulnerable-sector checks was not one of them. Uber shut its app off in the Orillia area and did not apply for licence. However, Uber has never provided an official response to the city as to why.
Those checks are required of taxi drivers, and Crawford said the bylaw needed to be consistent among cab and ride-share companies.
Drivers already must undergo a criminal record check, and Uber and its proponents felt the vulnerable-sector check was redundant. City staff felt otherwise.
“It was for public safety reasons,” Crawford said, noting a vulnerable-sector check also determines if a person has a record suspension, or pardon, for sexual offences.
Derick Lehmann, a former Uber driver, is pushing for the ride-share service in Orillia. He learned of Harvey’s petition and is supporting her in her efforts to encourage council to ease up on its requirements.
Lehmann was among those who addressed council in May, urging the city to do what it could to make Uber feel welcome in town.
When the petition is finalized, Lehmann will be among those who take it before council.
“We need to share the response of this petition and that it’s still a service that’s wanted in Orillia,” he said.
Lehmann feels having Uber in Orillia — the only Ontario municipality other than Ottawa that requires vulnerable-sector checks — would “force (cab companies) to improve their customer service.”
Coun. Mason Ainsworth said he would welcome the issue back at the council table. He was one of two councillors who voted against requiring vulnerable-sector screening last year.
The petition is a good idea, he said, adding, “I just hope they take the time to reach out to their councillors and the mayor and say, ‘This is what we want.’”
While campaigning for re-election, Uber was a common topic of conversation while going door to door, Ainsworth said.
“The big thing was that we need more transportation options for people,” he said. “We have to come up with some sort of solution.”
Uber did not respond to an interview request.
