California’s new insurance requirements for ride-sharing companies have taken effect, as the state bids to close a potentially disastrous gap in cover.

Services including Uber and Lyft have become hugely popular in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Assembly Bill 2293 was signed into law last September and took effect from July 1.

It requires road-sharing companies to tell drivers upfront that their personal insurance policies will not apply while using their private passenger vehicles for assignments.

It also requires the ride-sharing company’s insurance to give cover from the moment the driver logs onto the app until he or she logs off. There was previously uncertainty surrounding the period between logging on and identifying a passenger.

Meanwhile in Canada, Toronto City Council has voted to review its bylaws to include companies such as Uber.

In the meantime, it will continue to crack down on UberX, the service that allows drivers to use their own vehicles. A police sting earlier this year resulted in 22 charges against 11 drivers, although half were later dropped.

Previous efforts to shut down UberX failed after an Ontario court ruled the council had failed to prove the service broke any bylaws or was operating as an illegal taxi business.