Save PickupPal in Ontario

As you know we have a petition on the save.pickuppal.com site, (click here). The petition is the voice of everyone who cares deeply about this issue. Some are PickupPal members, some are simply concerned citizens from Ontario who heard about this issue and decided to speak out and some are from other countries voicing the views from their perspective. Before comments are posted, (you can see them here), I review them to see what people are saying. And to be very honest, it moves me, it boosts my spirits and it make me realize that what we are trying to do is the right thing. I don’t like conflict and I don’t want to challenge the Government just for the sake of it. However when I read all of the hundreds of notes and see page after page of signatures of people who took the time to voice their concern and show that they feel like me - frustrated and shocked - with our Government, it gives me a real sense of duty.

To all of you that have signed the petition, I thank you, and I will think of you all as I stand with John at the hearing and fight for all of our rights on October 15th.

Cheers - Eric

Here we track stories as they unfold about PickupPal’s fight to change the restrictive Ontario Legislation around carpooling:

	Bus firm calls online car pool illegal service
	Carpooling company offers illegal service, bus firm complains
	Picking on PickupPal
	Online Company Under Fire For Offering Carpooling Service
	National Post Editorial Board on PickupPal: Carpooling is green and cheap. So why is it illegal in Ontario?
	Ride-share matchmaking ban reviewed
	When is a Bus not a Bus?
	As it Happens - Part II - titled “PETERBOROUGH BUS CO.” Starts at 11:20 and ends at 19:00 (m:s)
	Car-sharing Website under Threat from Bus Company
	Bus company tries to shutter web-based ride-share service
	Trentway-Wagar goes after PickupPal
	Bus company files complaint against online ride-sharing site
	Carpooling: Good for the environment, too bad it’s illegal
	Ridesharing Site Under Fire from Bus Company
	Autobus contre covoiturage
	Bus operator tries to shut down online car-share service
	Canada AM: John Stewart, CEO of PickupPal Online Inc.
	Using the Net To Share Rides Illegal?
	CBC Radio One - Ottawa Morning - title “PickupPal in Peril”
	Rideshare operator challenges law
	Online ride sharing site told carpooling is illegal
	More Proof That Canada Hates The Environment
	Canadian Carpool Outlaws
	Social Network PickupPal Brings Carpooling Online, Is Facing Trouble in CanadaRide
	More Proof That Canada Hates The Environment
	Ride-Sharing PickupPal Under Fire From Bus Line and Bureaucracy
	Network economy changes the rules
	Ride-sharing controversy highlights power of networked economy
	CBC Radio One - Ontario today - title “Carpooling” an interview with Transportation Minister Jim Bradley
	Ontario working to loosen carpooling restrictions
	Dinosaur Economics
	PickupPal may be forced to hit the road in Ontario

In an attempt to be as upfront and clear as to what transpired and how it all came together I thought it might be interesting to post some of the background legal and supporting documents.

Ontario Highway Transportation Board (OHTB) cover letter informing us that Trentway-Wagar wants the board to shut us down - 250KB

Click Here

Trentway-Wagar’s request to shut PickupPal down - 2.3 MB

Click Here

Affidavit from the undercover Private Investigator that used PickupPal to ride from Toronto to Montreal for $60 - 8.2 Mb

Click Here

PickupPal’s response to the OHTB - 112 KB

Click Here

Trentway-Wagar’s lawyers response to the OHTB regarding our counter claim- 565 KB

Click Here

Supporting Documents

Conversation between PickupPal member and undercover Private Investigator posing as a PickupPal passenger in need of a ride - 86 KB

Click Here

The route that the PickupPal driver took to pickup the undercover Private Investigator - 86 KB

Click Here

Document showing that the OHTB has the final say and that unless the laws change Reasonable Ride Sharing will remain illegal in Ontario - 772 KB

Click Here

Ontario Legislation - Public Vehicles Act. Definitions of the various terms discussed in the material posted on this site.
Click Here

As more documents become available I will post them to this blog.

Cheers - Eric

As with all journeys they begin with a single step and this is our first step in changing Ontario’s restrictive Carpooling laws.

“The devil doesn’t need an advocate. The brave need supporters, not critics.” Seth Godin

Cheers - Eric