The City of Calgary’s push to tighten oversight of ride-sharing services has sparked a heated debate over privacy, with Uber on Tuesday filing a complaint to Alberta’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC).
It comes as city hall debates the matter during a marathon council meeting Tuesday afternoon.
At the heart of the issue is the Calgary Taxi Commission’s proposed requirement for Uber and other ride-sharing companies to provide highly detailed trip data and rider complaint information.
Under the proposal, companies would be required to share the exact latitude and longitude coordinates for every ride, accurate to five decimal places, down to within 1.1 metres, or the width of a doorframe, spokesperson Keerthana Rang said in an email.
This level of precision, Uber warns, could expose sensitive travel patterns, making it possible to identify individual homes, businesses, or even trees in Calgary’s low-density neighbourhoods.
The city also plans to require ride-sharing companies to submit details of rider complaints, including names, addresses, and phone numbers, without the rider’s explicit consent. Critics, including Uber, argue this over-collection of data violates privacy best practices, including the principle of data minimization.
“Calgarians expect their personal information and complaints to remain private unless they choose to share them,” Uber said in a statement. The company emphasized that it already works with law enforcement through its secure Public Safety Response Portal, which provides detailed trip data on an as-needed basis.
While city officials claim the measures are necessary for enforcement, Uber has countered that its app-based complaint system is effective and sufficient. “This proposed blanket collection of sensitive data is excessive and unnecessary,” Uber added.
The debate has drawn attention to the broader role of Calgary’s Taxi Commission, which oversees ride-sharing and traditional taxi services in the city. While the commission has long sought to level the playing field between the two industries, ride-sharing companies have often accused it of implementing onerous regulations that target their business model.
City Council is expected to vote on the proposal following discussions, but concerns about privacy remain unresolved. Uber pointed out that city staff promised in December 2024 to consult with the OIPC on the issue, but no evidence of such consultation has been provided.
