Regulations were implemented and each taxi driver was licensed by the city. They had a picture of the driver in the vehicle. There is an emergency light in the back in case of alarm the driver can pull which allows another person to call 911.

There are many regulations that Uber is bypassing. It's a great idea, except the taxi service should not be based on the lowest cost, it should be based on safety. This is the one place you need regulations or strict standards.

Our taxi's weren't allowed on the road if they were over 5~years old, now that is changing again.

We are going backwards..

This whole idea that Toronto (or London, or Quebec) is the only place in the world with the unique insight to regulate ride sharing services with their own unique snowflake policies needs to be dispelled. Many of these regulations (including the ones you're citing) clearly are relics of the past that don't reasonably apply to these services.

Residents of Toronto won't be able to move forward by clinging to the entrenched status quo out of misplaced beliefs that their regulations are future-proof, infallible, or provide any significant amount of additional safety to riders.

Because there is absolutely no way that calling 911 on the person sitting next to you and in control of a 2 ton vehicle is going to end badly. Nope.

At some point it's more about protectionism than safety. This is yet another example.