Uber warns of higher prices and longer wait times following Toronto’s decision to freeze new licences for ride-hailing.
The company has also warned it will take “additional actions” to reduce prices in the province as it seeks an agreement with the government to keep new licences active.
Uber had previously warned that Toronto’s decision to suspend new licences from UberX to UberBLUE would leave it with less competition in the sector.
The company told the province on Thursday it will suspend the licences of both UberBLUE and UberX in Toronto, but said that it will keep working with the city.
Uber said the suspension, announced by Toronto Mayor John Tory on Wednesday, is not related to the coronavirus (COVID-19), as some have suggested.
Uber said in a statement that the company had “consistently offered low prices to Toronto drivers” and that the suspension of its licences to operate in the city will prevent it from offering a “new and innovative” service to consumers.
The suspension of the licences was “not related to any COVID-19 threat,” the company said.
“Uber remains committed to the city of Toronto, its residents and drivers,” it said in a statement. The firm added that its “driver app has remained available and has been used by hundreds of thousands of Uber customers.”
The news comes as Uber is locked in a high-stakes battle with the city over who will collect $100 million in vehicle registration fees for the upcoming season.
The battle is over how much of those fees should be paid by the city and how much should go directly to Uber, with the company refusing to pay any of it to the municipality.
In a bid to win the fight, Toronto, in a bid, filed to get Uber to pay the fee itself.
Toronto is asking the Ontario Superior Court to declare all of its parking parking permits issued in the last three years to be “invalid, illegal, fraudulent, illegal, and/or fraudulent as a matter of law and/or equity” and that, as a result, Uber and other companies operating in the city should be required to pay back the fees “in full.”
On Wednesday, Uber told the court
