Do You Know Who's Driving You? Co-op Launches Its #ChooseTaxi Campaign

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 11, 2015) - Co-op Cabs Friends Don't Let Friends Take Uber X campaign hit bars and restaurants in downtown Toronto today, asking riders in the city to start asking questions before jumping in the backseat of an Uber X car.

The poster campaign will be in 200 locations across the city and will be targeting women specifically, with all the ads appearing in women's washrooms.

Alex Pierson, spokesperson for Co-op Cabs, says the campaign is just the first phase of a larger communications campaign that Co-op will be rolling out in the coming weeks as Uber's so-called ridesharing program comes under scrutiny in cities around the world.

"The poster campaign is designed to do one simple thing," Pierson says, "and that is to get people talking about personal safety and the risks associated with riding in an unmarked Uber X car."

The ads encourage people to visit the website choosetaxi.ca where they can write to their local city councillor to register their concerns and are asked a series of questions including:

What kind of insurance does Uber have for passengers?

Why did Uber make me sign a waiver?

What type of screening is there for Uber X drivers?

Is Uber X even licensed?

"Our campaign is targeting women because we are already hearing that a lot of them would never get in an Uber X car," Pierson says. "And the reasons they won't take Uber X are because they don't feel safe. And those concerns are exactly why the City has been arguing that Uber should be regulated under the existing regulations for taxi brokerage companies."

Up until now Uber has insisted it is a technology company in the business of ridesharing. Earlier this week, however, after mounting pressure from the City and a court case less than few weeks away, Uber agreed to register Uber Taxi as a taxi brokerage company, but not Uber X.

"We are all for competition," Pierson says. "But we are also asking for a level playing field where the riding public are protected across the board, no matter what ground transportation service they take."