Courier Licensing

Hideouswhitenoise, Issue #33, August 1997

by Joe Hendry

In February of this year as most of Toronto's residents were concerned with its very existence, Toronto's politicians had greater concerns. Nine of the seventeen Councillors felt it necessary to pursue measures to license bike couriers in a city that may not exist in 11 months. Council passed a motion for the staff to prepare a report on the potential licensing of bicycle couriers in the city.

The potential licensing of couriers in Toronto arose out of City Council's discussion on enhancing bicycle safety in the city. The deaths of 5 city cyclists last year focused attention on safety on the roads. Two of those cyclists (Erin Krauser and Martha Kennedy), died in collisions with trucks, ten days apart in July. The resulting publicity led the City to request The Board of Management to prepare a report on "Enhancing Bicycle Safety".

One of the items that council wanted the Board to report on was "establishing enforceable traffic regulations for cyclists and requiring all cyclists to be tested in order to obtain a license." The resulting report noted that "enforceable traffic regulations already exist in the Ontario Highway Traffic Act and the Toronto Municipal Code. In 1988, the HTA was amended to require cyclists to identify themselves to police. "This change has enabled police to effectively enforce traffic regulations for cyclists."

The report also noted that the Ministry of Transportation and Metro Police did not support licensing cyclists.

During City Council's discussion of the report, Councillor Steve Ellis (Ward 9) also voiced his concerns against licensing all cyclists because as he said, "I don't think it will work", and it would be "a nightmare to administer". Anyway Ellis says "it's not Johnny and Janey coming down from the suburbs...it's the courier industry that are hitting people." He believes that "these kamikaze couriers...should have clear licenses on them with big numbers identification..so that you can complain about them and have their license revoked or charged."

Ellis' reasons for licensing couriers did not arise out of any research, nor studies nor reports on bike messengers. Ellis' 'expertise' on couriers came from walking around Bay and Richmond streets where "you see these kamikaze couriers all over the place". Ellis didn't ask for any reports or studies to see if there is a need to license messengers or what effect it would have on the industry.

There are no studies or statistics to show that bike couriers cause accidents or injury to themselves or others. The problem is one of prejudice and perceptions. A study by the Automobile Insurance Society of Quebec from 1992 concluded that couriers' "behaviour draws attention because their clothing and bag make them more visible," and in fact couriers "have no more of a propensity for accidents per kilometre travelled than other bicycle riders...and for that reason caution is advised in imputing accident risk to couriers in order to justify specific intervention targeting this type of road user."

Licensing in other cities has shown that it leads to harassment and discrimination. Licensing has no effect on behaviour (look at taxi drivers) and police are pressured by perceptions to harass messengers. They spend more time checking licenses than enforcing safety laws.

Councillor Ellis could not have read any reports on messengers. What he is concerned about is "cost recovery", that is, how much would the city have to charge for these licenses.

The last time Toronto considered licensing for bike messengers was 1989-92, through the Metro Licensing Commission. A sub-committee on Bicycle Couriers was set up in 1989 to institute a licensing program and Metro got as far as a draft by-law in 1991. They wanted to charge couriers $93 per year for a licence. Couriers responded by setting up the Association of Professional Urban Cyclists (APUC) "to unite the bicycle couriers and protect their chosen profession from bureaucratic bungling". APUC worked with the Toronto City Cycling Committee to bring sanity to the discussion and understanding to their profession.

In the end licensing was put off last time because of a lack of knowledge about its effects on the industry and a lack of confidence in its ability to achieve its goals. This time the licensing debate was pre-empted by the Mega-City. The next time it will be decided by a council composed of many suburban politicians who only see couriers through their blurry car windows.

So in the Mega-City election remember Councillors like Steve Ellis who support legislation based on prejudice and personal experience. Elect councillors who support policies that do not discriminate against visible minorities like couriers.

Update, November 1997 - Councillor Ellis was defeated in the megacity election.

If you have comments or suggestions, email me at messvilleto@yahoo.com