The Quebec government, and especially the city of Montreal, have joined the taxicab monopoly in waging war on Uber since it first appeared in September 2014.

Uber allows anyone with a smartphone to easily connect with a willing driver. The passenger’s phone shows how far away the driver is, how long until he arrives, the route to the destination and the cost of the ride. Payment is automatic through the app. (Photo: Dirk Heine/Flickr)

Uber threatens the monopoly on for-hire rides enjoyed by taxi drivers, who have reacted by staging protests, blocking traffic by driving slowly and threatening that “things could go sour.” Cab drivers are using the Uber app to inconvenience and demoralize its drivers. Their Escouade de taxi (taxi squad) has published a poster of Uber’s Quebec director headlined “wanted for illegal activity.”

The battles will not stop anytime soon, since cab drivers have strong political support. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is a loud opponent of the “illegal” service. He once said, “When people want to pay for a ride, there is something called a taxi they can take, with all the regulations they must respect.” The city of Montreal has seized several Uber cars since the service started in September 2014. Transportation Minister Robert Poëti isn’t as vocal, but he keeps repeating that Uber is illegal.

However, both fail to see the larger picture: taxicabs have an out-dated, inefficient monopoly on for-hire rides. As matters stand, the Commission des transports du Québec (CTQ) delivers just 8,000 taxicab licences for the entire province. Numbers are restricted in order to “make sure that the supply of taxis in a given region meets demand, in addition to allow taxis to be profitable.” Furthermore, the permits are highly segregated; a special licence is required to serve the Trudeau and Jean-Lesage airports.

And except for rural regions such as Gaspésie and Lotbinière, all taxicabs must have a meter that calculates the tariffs, which reflect the inflated prices charged by all monopolies. For example, a 20-minute, 20-km limousine ride from Trudeau airport to downtown Montreal (without prior reservation) costs $55. Uber costs between $29 and $38.

The CTQ lists the cost of a ride to essentially every municipality in the province, 34 pages of tariffs in total. For regular rides, it’s $3.45 as soon as you jump in the vehicle and $1.70 per kilometre everywhere a taximeter is required. Meanwhile, it can take a half-hour or more to get a taxi late at night: a long, cold wait when it’s minus-20 degrees.

If taxi drivers want to stop hemorrhaging profits, they need to adapt to the sharing economy. In fact, they should demand that the CTQ abolish its ridiculous, archaic system so they can innovate too.