- 注册
- 2002-05-22
- 消息
- 22,968
- 荣誉分数
- 902
- 声望点数
- 293
Carpooling illegal???
- 主题发起人 1784
- 开始时间
- 注册
- 2002-05-22
- 消息
- 22,968
- 荣誉分数
- 902
- 声望点数
- 293
TheStar.com | Ontario | Bus firm calls online car pool illegal service
A Canadian Internet company that co-ordinates car sharing around the world could soon be shut out of Ontario if one of the province's largest chartered-bus companies gets its way.
PickupPal Online Inc. was launched less than eight months ago by two Ontario entrepreneurs who thought car sharing, if it could be made easier through the Web, was a noble way to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution.
The service is like an Internet dating service for drivers, matching up people who are going to the same place at the same time – anywhere from concerts to sporting events to corporate functions. Special mapping software helps them find the best route.
But Peterborough-based Trentway-Wagar Inc. says PickupPal is breaking the law because it helps drivers collect money by offering strangers a ride. The bus company even hired a private investigator to test out the service, posing as someone who needed a ride from Toronto to Montreal and negotiating a fee of $60 with a driver travelling from Simcoe, Ont.
Trentway lawyer Robert Warren of WeirFoulds LLP says such drivers aren't licensed to operate a vehicle for a public transportation service and, as a result, don't have to comply with expensive safety standards and insurance requirements.
"Any time anybody operates such a service and they don't have to comply with all these regulatory burdens, then it's unfair competition in my client's view," Warren said. "They do erode substantially what really is a low-margin business."
PickupPal currently has more than 100,000 registered users of its service worldwide, with about 10 per cent based in Ontario. The bus company wants PickupPal to stop its service and has asked the Ontario Highway Transport Board to make it happen. A hearing is scheduled for October.
Eric Dewhirst, co-founder and chief technology officer of PickupPal, was expecting the challenge. He said the company has not broken any laws and has no plans to back down. He said Ontario's rules for carpooling under the Public Vehicles Act are the strictest he's seen anywhere in the world, and go against the spirit of policy that encourages car sharing. This includes the creation of high-occupancy vehicle lanes on major highways.
"We're being innovative, and that's what Premier Dalton McGuinty wanted," Dewhirst said. "We're looking for someone high enough up to step in here and say, `We're going to review this, because it's just wrong.' What we're saying is let's be reasonable here."
It wouldn't be the first time the bus industry, and Trentway-Wagar, has cracked down on ride sharing in Ontario. Quebec-based carpooling company Allo Stop was taken to the Ontario transport board because of a route it ran between Montreal and Toronto. The service was banned in 2000.
"Do we just have to draw a big map around Ontario and say, sorry folks, we can't help you? That just doesn't make sense, and that's why we're going to challenge it," Dewhirst said.
PickupPal has become popular in British Columbia, parts of the United States and Australia.
People trying to get to and from work can use the service, but Dewhirst said it is targeted at people who need a one-time ride to an event and back.
It has been the official ride-share service for Edgefest and will be for the upcoming Virgin Mobile Festival in Toronto. The company is also in talks to support ride sharing to CFL games, and for employees and customers of Sears and Home Depot.
PickupPal initially earned revenues by collecting a 7 per cent commission on any fee negotiated between a driver and a rider. But in late June it stopped collecting a commission, deciding instead to earn its revenues from online advertisements.
The fact that PickupPal no longer earns a commission is irrelevant, Warren said. He said the drivers who use the service can still charge a fee, and there’s nothing stopping people from using the website to co-ordinate vanloads of people moving between Toronto and Montreal several times a day.
“Those are real dangerous operations. Those vans are not licensed, they’re not insured and don’t pass strict safety guidelines. PickupPal hasn’t picked up on the fact that their system can be abused,” he said.
Warren also took issue with PickupPal’s environmental claims. “The folks who are using the service are not stopping using their own car, they’re stopping taking the bus.”
Dewhirst said bus services such as those offered by Trentway-Wagar are essential, but they don’t go everywhere and don’t appeal to everyone. He said with gas costs skyrocketing and congestion getting worse in cities such as Toronto, people are beginning to gravitate toward car sharing as an alternative to getting around.
“And we don’t care if they exchange doughnuts to do it,” he said.
A Canadian Internet company that co-ordinates car sharing around the world could soon be shut out of Ontario if one of the province's largest chartered-bus companies gets its way.
PickupPal Online Inc. was launched less than eight months ago by two Ontario entrepreneurs who thought car sharing, if it could be made easier through the Web, was a noble way to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution.
The service is like an Internet dating service for drivers, matching up people who are going to the same place at the same time – anywhere from concerts to sporting events to corporate functions. Special mapping software helps them find the best route.
But Peterborough-based Trentway-Wagar Inc. says PickupPal is breaking the law because it helps drivers collect money by offering strangers a ride. The bus company even hired a private investigator to test out the service, posing as someone who needed a ride from Toronto to Montreal and negotiating a fee of $60 with a driver travelling from Simcoe, Ont.
Trentway lawyer Robert Warren of WeirFoulds LLP says such drivers aren't licensed to operate a vehicle for a public transportation service and, as a result, don't have to comply with expensive safety standards and insurance requirements.
"Any time anybody operates such a service and they don't have to comply with all these regulatory burdens, then it's unfair competition in my client's view," Warren said. "They do erode substantially what really is a low-margin business."
PickupPal currently has more than 100,000 registered users of its service worldwide, with about 10 per cent based in Ontario. The bus company wants PickupPal to stop its service and has asked the Ontario Highway Transport Board to make it happen. A hearing is scheduled for October.
Eric Dewhirst, co-founder and chief technology officer of PickupPal, was expecting the challenge. He said the company has not broken any laws and has no plans to back down. He said Ontario's rules for carpooling under the Public Vehicles Act are the strictest he's seen anywhere in the world, and go against the spirit of policy that encourages car sharing. This includes the creation of high-occupancy vehicle lanes on major highways.
"We're being innovative, and that's what Premier Dalton McGuinty wanted," Dewhirst said. "We're looking for someone high enough up to step in here and say, `We're going to review this, because it's just wrong.' What we're saying is let's be reasonable here."
It wouldn't be the first time the bus industry, and Trentway-Wagar, has cracked down on ride sharing in Ontario. Quebec-based carpooling company Allo Stop was taken to the Ontario transport board because of a route it ran between Montreal and Toronto. The service was banned in 2000.
"Do we just have to draw a big map around Ontario and say, sorry folks, we can't help you? That just doesn't make sense, and that's why we're going to challenge it," Dewhirst said.
PickupPal has become popular in British Columbia, parts of the United States and Australia.
People trying to get to and from work can use the service, but Dewhirst said it is targeted at people who need a one-time ride to an event and back.
It has been the official ride-share service for Edgefest and will be for the upcoming Virgin Mobile Festival in Toronto. The company is also in talks to support ride sharing to CFL games, and for employees and customers of Sears and Home Depot.
PickupPal initially earned revenues by collecting a 7 per cent commission on any fee negotiated between a driver and a rider. But in late June it stopped collecting a commission, deciding instead to earn its revenues from online advertisements.
The fact that PickupPal no longer earns a commission is irrelevant, Warren said. He said the drivers who use the service can still charge a fee, and there’s nothing stopping people from using the website to co-ordinate vanloads of people moving between Toronto and Montreal several times a day.
“Those are real dangerous operations. Those vans are not licensed, they’re not insured and don’t pass strict safety guidelines. PickupPal hasn’t picked up on the fact that their system can be abused,” he said.
Warren also took issue with PickupPal’s environmental claims. “The folks who are using the service are not stopping using their own car, they’re stopping taking the bus.”
Dewhirst said bus services such as those offered by Trentway-Wagar are essential, but they don’t go everywhere and don’t appeal to everyone. He said with gas costs skyrocketing and congestion getting worse in cities such as Toronto, people are beginning to gravitate toward car sharing as an alternative to getting around.
“And we don’t care if they exchange doughnuts to do it,” he said.
