Ride-hailing service Hopp rolls into Canada with several challenges awaiting it

Estonian company Bolt says it has launched its Hopp ride-hailing service in the Greater Toronto Area. Hopp’s debut spans Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan, and Richmond Hill, but the service plans to push even further across Canada over time. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Bolt **MANDATORY CREDIT**

TORONTO — Competition for Uber and Lyft is rolling into Canada.

Estonian company Bolt announced Tuesday that it has launched its Hopp ride-hailing service in the Greater Toronto Area.

Hopp’s Canadian debut adds Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill to the roster of 600 cities in 50 countries it already operates in.

In Canada, however, the company may not be in for a smooth ride.

It faces stiff competition from Uber, which has been in the market since 2012, and Lyft, which entered in 2017, along with a variety of regional players.

Yet Hopp’s general manager for Canada David Riggs maintains the market lacks competition.

“Ride hailing isn’t a winner-takes-all marketplace,” he said.

“In fact, monopolies get challenged in these marketplaces all the time and in the last number of years, regional players have challenged large competitors within the marketplace and been very successful.”

He believes Hopp can find success in Canada by addressing both a lack of choice and “less favourable” conditions for drivers and riders alike.

“There is room for multiple competitors and where we really slide in is by being able to provide better earnings opportunities for the drivers and being a better partner for them, as well as being able to pass on the savings to riders,” Riggs said.

He said Hopp offers more attractive pricing for riders and higher earnings for drivers, claiming the 15 per cent service fee, or commission, Hopp takes is the lowest in the industry.

Like most other ride-hailing apps, Hopp considers its drivers to be independent contractors because they can choose when, where and how often they work. Since they aren’t employees, they do not receive job security, vacation pay or other benefits.

As well, drivers for ride-hailing apps are generally only paid for time spent ferrying around passengers — not awaiting rides — a contentious issue for many independent contractors who also complain of low wages.

A report released in December found drivers working for ride-hailing apps at the start of 2024 in Toronto earned a median hourly wage of $5.97, well below the $16.55 minimum wage Ontario had until October, when it increased to $17.20.

The research commissioned by the city but completed by the University of Toronto and Université de l’Ontario français factored in the time drivers spent logged into platforms awaiting ride requests and transporting customers as well as the cost of using their own vehicles.

When researchers put aside expenses and only counted time between when a driver accepts a trip request and drops the passenger off, they found the median worker had gross earnings of $33.18 per hour in 2024.

Uber criticized the report’s methodology, saying it excluded trips that crossed municipal borders and didn’t take into account drivers working on multiple platforms at once or the fact that they can deduct expenses from revenue to get a tax break.

The company also said Toronto drivers in November earned $30.10 per hour for engaged time on Uber, excluding tips.

Riggs wouldn’t say what the average driver earns per hour through Hopp because he didn’t think it would be “correct to generalize,” given how some people drive more often than others or during peak hours, when others don’t.

He also skirted questions about whether his company supports benefits for drivers, saying instead that drivers like the freedom of being able to choose when and how often they work.

Uber and United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, a private sector union with an agreement allowing it to represent Uber drivers during disputes with the company, have advocated for an industry-wide benefits fund that all platforms would pay into and that would scale with time spent working across all platforms.

Uber also spent much of last year locked in a battle with the City of Toronto.

City staff recommended last December that the municipality cap how many drivers could work for app-based ride-hailing companies at 80,429 — the number that were licensed by Toronto as of Dec. 1.

However, Mayor Olivia Chow, who led an October 2023 motion to institute a cap which was overturned two months later, sent city staff who had recommended limiting drivers back to the drawing board.

Before the motion was rescinded, Uber sought an injunction because it saw the cap as causing harm to its business.

Asked whether Hopp supports a cap, Riggs said it favours municipal models built around “one driver, one license.”

“What that means specifically is that when drivers are licensed, they are free to choose who they earn with and when and how they earn, which is not the current method that licensing is currently constructed under,” he said.

Rather than measure its success on its ability to change municipal practices, Riggs said Hopp will evaluate whether it has delivered opportunities to drivers and affordability to passengers.

Though Hopp is confined to Greater Toronto for now, he said the company is eyeing other provinces and cities.

“We are always looking at opportunities to expand,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2025.