“Illegal” taxis at the airport | In Montreal as in the Far West

The number of “illegal” taxis has exploded at Montréal-Trudeau airport in recent months. Harassing drivers, at least one extortion attempt, chaotic parking: nearly 400 offenses have been recorded since January. The airport authority is concerned about passenger safety and is asking Quebec to urgently review its regulations.

I have very approximate memories of my first trip to Mexico.

Turning point of the millennium. Acapulco. $200 plane ticket bought at the last minute. $12 a night hostel found in a crumpled tourist guide. Too much sun, too much cerveza.

The only thing I remember like it was yesterday was the “taxi” ride from the airport to the heart of the city. I see again the horde of insistent drivers at the exit of the terminal. The battered old Beetle I got myself into. And this tetanizing course at 100 km/h, on the mountainside, without a doubt the most stressful of my entire life.

Anyone who has ever visited an exotic destination has experienced a similar scenario.

You land, pick up your suitcases, and before you even set foot outside, you’re mobbed by more or less dodgy taxi drivers. Often difficult to determine who to trust, especially when your mind is a little cloudy after a long flight.

Well, the same phenomenon is now observed at the Montreal-Trudeau airport.

The number of “illegal” taxis has exploded in recent months, I learned. Complaints are increasing, and many passengers have experienced situations where they felt in danger.

Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), the airport authority, is very concerned about the turn of events.

This bodes ill for the city’s image and reputation.

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I have spoken at length with ADM officials over the past few days. One incident in particular left me stunned.

A person who had just arrived at Montréal-Trudeau got into what she thought was a legitimate taxi. Once on the Metropolitan highway, a few kilometers from the airport, the driver demanded payment of $150, in cash, “otherwise he threatened to abandon it on the highway”.

An attempt at pure and simple extortion.

How did Montreal come to this?

Until recently, taxi drivers duly accredited by ADM quietly waited for passengers at the arrivals level, comfortably seated in their vehicles. The Uber service drivers, for their part, were confined to a well-identified door, one floor above.

Everything was happening more or less in order.

Things went downhill after a regulatory change in Quebec. The Legault government adopted in 2019 the Act respecting remunerated passenger transportation by automobile, which led in its wake to the (very discreet) disappearance of the Bureau du taxi de la ville de Montréal last December.

This law has laudable objectives, but it has also caused the appearance of several blind spots and gray areas. The problems have become acute with the strong recovery in air traffic in recent months.

Montréal-Trudeau is in a way the ground zero of this new regulatory environment.

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Basically, everyone and their neighbor can improvise as a driver and pick up passengers at the airport. ADM has been observing for several months individuals who will offer their driver services, with their personal car, sometimes offering to cut prices to compete with Uber. ADM describes them as “illegal taxis”.

There is also the category of real taxi drivers, more and more of whom pick up customers at Montréal-Trudeau without holding an airport permit and without following the very strict rules of ADM. They will often grab customers in a hurry, anywhere, especially in the area reserved for Uber.

I experienced it just two weeks ago, on my return from a trip to Europe.

I was walking through the terminal with my big suitcase when a man appeared out of nowhere to offer me his services. A driver from a small taxi company, who admitted to me picking up customers at YUL in his spare time, to make ends meet. I accepted his offer and made the trip home without a hitch.

Some were less fortunate.

I have been told several cases of passengers who had their suitcases grabbed by very enterprising drivers. Others who were solicited in a less brutal way, but just as disturbing, or even extorted.

ADM says it is powerless in the face of the situation, since the Bureau du taxi, which previously exercised close surveillance, ceased to exist four months ago.

The only thing airport authorities can do is tow illegally parked vehicles to the arrivals level.

Nothing to scare his mother.

Spot checks are carried out by officers from Contrôleroute Québec, an agency affiliated with the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), which inherited the mandate to monitor the airport in the wake of the new provincial law.

But they can only act if they notice a transaction between a passenger and a driver, therefore an exchange of money. They can do nothing to curb solicitation, which is at the heart of the current crisis.

Another problem: these provincial inspectors are not present at all times at Montréal-Trudeau, since they must also inspect heavy goods vehicles on the highways, check the polluting emissions of trucks, and so on.

It’s not very serious.

“Our greatest concern is the safety of authorized drivers, but above all, that of passengers, who can find themselves in very unfortunate positions,” explained Anne-Sophie Hamel, director of communications at the airport.

ADM says it has recorded 374 “offences” since 1^er last January, such as solicitation, theft of customers and prohibited parking of bogus taxis. And this is probably only the tip of the iceberg, since the organization’s powers of surveillance and intervention are limited.

In an attempt to calm things down in the short term, ADM launched a poster campaign inside the terminal. She reminds travelers to always use well-marked taxis and Uber, which continue to operate legitimately (and rack up frustrations with their new competitors).

ADM’s fears are shared by the City and by Tourisme Montréal. Beyond the security issues, they also fear that the image of the metropolis will be tarnished by this brothel worthy of a developing country.

The current chaos is all the more incomprehensible since the Department of Transport was warned years ago, as early as 2017 in fact, when the new law was being drafted, that this Wild West situation was likely to occur in the airport.

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ADM has three specific demands for the government. That the ban on solicitation that previously existed be reintroduced, that it be able to again require that taxi drivers working at the airport be all accredited, and that traffic controllers be able to act as soon as they observe solicitation , and not just a transaction.

A meeting is scheduled soon with the office of Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault to discuss the file. His office says it was informed “recently” of the situation of “illegal” taxis, and decided to meet ADM “quickly”.

To ensure the safety of travelers and preserve Montreal’s already damaged image, we can only hope that Quebec responds to the call without delay.