Posted at 5:00 am
I have very vague memories of my first trip to Mexico.
turning point of the millennium. Acapulco. Bought a $200 plane ticket last minute. Hostel for $12 a night found in a crumpled guide book. 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 stubborn drivers at the exit of the terminal. The battered old Beetle I’ve climbed 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 travel destination has experienced a similar scenario.
You land, collect your bags and before you even set foot outside, you’re besieged by more or less dodgy taxi drivers. It’s often difficult to determine who to trust, especially when you’re a little woozy after a long flight.
Well, the same phenomenon is now being observed at Montreal-Trudeau Airport.
The number of “illegal” taxis has exploded in recent months, I’ve learned. The complaints are increasing and many passengers have experienced situations in which they felt endangered.
Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), the airport authority, is very concerned about the turn of events.
That doesn’t bode well for the city’s image and reputation.
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I’ve spoken extensively to ADM officials over the past few days. One incident in particular stunned me.
A person who had just arrived in Montréal-Trudeau got into what he believed to be a legitimate taxi. Once on the Metropolitan Highway, a few miles from the airport, the driver demanded payment of $150 in cash, “otherwise he threatened to leave it on the freeway.”
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Travelers at Montreal-Trudeau Airport
An attempt at pure and simple blackmail.
How did Montreal get involved?
Until recently, properly ADM-accredited taxi drivers quietly awaited passengers on the arrivals level, comfortably seated in their vehicles. For their part, the Uber service drivers were locked at a well-identified door one floor up.
Everything went more or less in order.
Things went downhill after a regulatory change in Quebec. In 2019, the Legault government passed the Paid Passenger Car Transport Act, which led to the (very discreet) disappearance of the Bureau du taxi de la ville de Montréal last December.
This law has laudable aims, but it has also caused the emergence of several blind spots and gray areas. With the strong recovery in air traffic in recent months, the problems have acutely worsened.
In a way, Montréal-Trudeau is ground zero of this new regulatory environment.
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In principle, everyone and their neighbor can improvise as a driver and pick up passengers at the airport. ADM has been tracking people for several months offering their driver services using their private car, sometimes offering to lower prices to compete with Uber. ADM refers to them as “illegal taxis”.
There is also the category of real taxi drivers, more and more of whom are picking up clients in Montréal-Trudeau without having an airport permit and without following ADM’s very strict rules. They often snap up rushing customers everywhere, 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 large suitcase when a man appeared out of nowhere to offer his services. A driver for a small taxi company who admitted to picking up customers at YUL in his free time to make ends meet. I accepted his offer and made my way home without incident.
Some were less fortunate.
I have had several reports of passengers having their bags packed by very enterprising drivers. Others recruited or even blackmailed in less brutal but equally disturbing ways.
ADM says it is powerless in the face of the situation as the Bureau du Taxi, which previously exercised close supervision, ceased to exist four months ago.
The only thing airport authorities can do is to tow illegally parked vehicles onto the arrivals level.
Nothing to scare his mother.
Spot checks will be carried out by officers from Contrôleroute Québec, an agency affiliated with the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), which has been given the mandate to monitor the airport under the new provincial law.
But they can only trade when they see a transaction between a passenger and a driver, i.e. an exchange of money. There is nothing you can do to stem the advertising that is at the heart of the current crisis.
Another problem: these provincial inspectors are not always present in Montréal-Trudeau, since they also inspect heavy-duty vehicles on the highways, have to inspect pollutant emissions from trucks, and so on.
It’s not very serious.
“Our main concern is the safety of authorized drivers, but especially that of passengers who may find themselves in very unfortunate situations,” said Anne-Sophie Hamel, the airport’s communications director.
ADM says it has registered 374 “crimes” since Jan. 1, including soliciting, stealing customers and illegally parking counterfeit taxis. And that’s probably just the tip of the iceberg, as the organization’s powers of surveillance and intervention are limited.
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
ADM has launched a billboard campaign to counteract the phenomenon of ‘illegal’ taxis.
In order to calm the situation in the short term, ADM launched a poster campaign in the terminal. She reminds travelers to always use well-marked cabs and Uber, which continue to operate legitimately (and build frustrations with their newcomers).
ADM’s concerns are shared by the city and Tourisme Montréal. Beyond the security issues, they also fear that the metropolis’ image will be tarnished by this developing country-worthy brothel.
The current chaos is all the more incomprehensible as the Department of Transportation warned years ago, even as early as 2017 when the new law was being drafted, that this Wild West situation was likely to occur at the airport.
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ADM has three specific demands of the government. That the previous non-poaching ban be reintroduced, that it can again require that all taxi drivers working at the airport are accredited and that traffic controllers can act as soon as they observe a poaching and not just a transaction.
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Since January, almost 400 crimes related to “illegal” taxis have been recorded at Montreal-Trudeau Airport.
A meeting with the office of Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault is planned shortly to discuss the file. His office said it was “recently” briefed on the situation of “illegal” taxis and decided to meet ADM “quickly”.
To ensure the safety of travelers and preserve Montreal’s already tarnished image, we can only hope Quebec will respond to the call promptly.
call everyone
Have you been approached by an “illegal” taxi driver exiting Montréal-Trudeau Airport?