Earlier this year, I wrote about attempts to shut down Pickup Pal, a ride sharing website, in Ontario. The Toronto Star reports today that the Ontario Transport Board has ruled that the website is operating illegal in the province by helping strangers offers rides for a fee.
Ontario Transport Board Rules Against Pickup Pal
November 12, 2008
Share this post
2 Comments

Law Bytes
Episode 241: Scott Benzie on How Government Policy Eroded Big Tech Support for Canadian Culture
byMichael Geist

July 21, 2025
Michael Geist
June 30, 2025
Michael Geist
June 23, 2025
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
The Sound of Silence: On Being Jewish in Canada in 2025
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 241: Scott Benzie on How Government Policy Has Eroded Big Tech Support for Canadian Culture
What Is the Canadian Government Doing With Its Incoherent Approach to TikTok?
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 240: Dean Beeby on Why Canada’s Language Laws May Stop Government From Posting Access to Information Records Online
Risky Business: The Legal and Privacy Concerns of Mandatory Age Verification Technologies
This could be a problem.
Quite possibly a big one, in more than one sense.
sets precedence?
As Mr.Eric Dewhirst stated that Pickup Pal can only be used for “travel from home to work only… can’t cross municipal boundaries… must ride with the same driver each day, and… can’t pay the driver more frequently than weekly”, this of which the restrictions probably imposed by the ruling, doesn’t this set precedence for other rideshare sites such as Craigslist and Kijiji? Furthermore, if the argument that follows is that Pickup Pal was ‘making available’ accessibility to ridesharing, couldn’t a similar argument be construed to other social network sites such as facebook, or even university driven rideshare communities?