A neighbor across the road from me flies frequently, at least 3-4 times a week, and we know when she is going to be away because a clean, black, airline limosine pulls up to her house at least 15-20 minutes before she comes out and the driver, well groomed and usually in a suit, exits the limosine waiting for her to indicate she is ready to leave at which time he goes up to the front door, puts her luggage into the car and helps her into the back seat.
Will I be guaranteed the same service, at a flat rate, when I enter the Toronto taxicab lottery? I Doubt It!
And keep this in mind....Comrade Moscoe is the the one who tried to get the pay raise by hiding it within other legislation.
Council crimps our ride
By SUE-ANN LEVY
Last month -- en route to an assignment in Italy -- I took a cab to Pearson airport with the Toronto taxi company normally used by Sun Media employees.
The metered fare to the airport -- on a Saturday afternoon with little traffic on Hwy. 401 -- cost just slightly less than $50, a price competitive with what an airline limo company would have charged.
The return trip with the same taxi company was on a Friday afternoon, smack in the midst of rush hour. The metered fare that day was $75. I watched with frustration as the meter kept pinging all the time we sat in gridlock.
This was my only experience as of late with a metered taxi ride to Pearson and back. But I've done a lot of travelling in the past few months and can honestly say I much prefer the clean, spacious comfort and the flat fee structure of an airline limo.
But that range of options is about to end. In less than 30 days from now, city residents travelling from Toronto to Pearson airport won't be able to choose whether they travel with an airline limo company or by metered taxi.
It's not enough to tax Toronto residents to death. Oh no, it seems Mayor David Miller and his minions -- slowly but surely becoming drunk with their own power -- won't stop until they regulate every aspect of our lives. And they plan to use the City of Toronto Act (COTA) to do so.
Led by Coun. Howard Moscoe -- the self-professed arbiter of all that's right and wrong -- council voted 37-5 earlier this week to impose a new bylaw (the first under the COTA) banning licensed airport limos and taxis from picking up customers in Toronto.
Under the bylaw these 636 limos and taxis -- who each pay $250,000 for a special airport plate and another $6,000 in yearly administrative fees to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) -- will be able to pick up fares at Pearson but will not be able to respond to pre-arranged calls from Toronto clients.
The airline limos have been operating with a special "airport exemption" that allows them to pick up Toronto passengers -- an exemption that was left out of COTA. The 5,600 taxis and limos licensed by the city of Toronto can take passengers to the airport but can't pick them up unless the call is pre-arranged and they pay a special $10 pickup fee.
Moscoe insisted this has to happen to create a "level playing field." He got as heated as a rabid dog when some of his colleagues urged him not to ram through this controversial change.
When Coun. Frances Nunziata suggested he was going against the city's legal advice to consult first or possibly face a series of costly lawsuits, he said: "I don't want to discuss it ... staff is absolutely wrong."
When Coun. Karen Stintz pointed out this move will not "level the playing field" at all because consumers will be left to choose between a metered taxi or Toronto limo, that bills out at a $70 minimum rate, Moscoe snarled she too was "wrong, absolutely wrong." Not even her contentions that this is an "important test case" for their new powers under COTA and a "blunt force approach is not the way to go," could sway the socialist rulemakers.
In the end all the King of Denial would agree to is a 30-day delay in the implementation of the bylaw to allow for negotiations. (Between whom, I don't know. The mayor is too busy running to photo ops and begging for money.)
"I must compliment Howard Moscoe's instinct for putting his finger right on the heart of the matter when it comes to protecting people," said Miller, who can hop into his chauffeur-driven Prius any time he wants to get to Pearson.
Just who are Moscoe and crew protecting? Certainly not me or any member of Toronto's travelling public. He's not protecting this summer's tourist trade either, I suspect.
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