Uber warns of higher prices and longer wait times following Toronto’s decision to freeze new licences to launch electric cars.
“The City of Toronto has had a significant reduction in electric vehicle growth in the past year and into the future,” Uber’s vice-president of public policy, Paul DeSutter, said in a statement.
“The decision to freeze new vehicle licences and make no changes to existing licences has been the second of its kind in this community,” DeSutter said.
“It is clear that Ontario is not taking a leadership position on electric vehicles and that is a very troubling development for the industry.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory, who is under pressure to take a stand against climate change action at the federal level, said his city saw an “eyeopening week that was a wake-up call” that “should be an alarm” for the federal government.
Toronto has now decided to freeze electric vehicle growth, meaning that no new electric vehicle model can be launched in the city.
The City Clerk’s Office, as well as the city’s director of environmental planning, say there were no changes to electric vehicle policies following the decision.
Uber issued a statement explaining the decision, which comes at a time when Uber, the company behind the popular smartphone application Uber Eats, is facing a backlash from customers who say that the service has been slow to respond to their needs, and when some see the company as out of touch with average consumer behaviour.
Uber, which has faced increasing criticism in recent weeks, also acknowledged that customers have been complaining that the service is slow to respond and that the experience of using the app is frustrating.
As a result, Uber has begun rolling out new features to fix issues, such as the use of GPS to locate a restaurant for riders, and improvements to the Uber Eats app to help customers find where to order meals on the Uber Eats app.
“We’ve recently made a lot of changes to improve the overall experience of using the Uber Eats app,” Uber said in response to a request for comment. “This includes adding restaurants and ordering food faster, so customers are happy and ordering at a restaurant is faster. We are also working to improve the customer experience by improving the food delivery experience.
