3 ms·

It appears the basic reason for a taxi medallion system is to regulate the industry and control supply to prevent a flood of random drivers being unleashed on a

It appears the basic reason for a taxi medallion system is to regulate the industry and control supply to prevent a flood of random drivers being unleashed on an unsuspecting populous. Uber/Lyft business model: Unleash a flood of random drivers on an unsuspecting populous. Not that I agree with the taxi medallion system as it's ultimately been used to grant political favors and prop up unnatural monopolies but it is interesting how the negative consequences supporting the argument for why the taxi industry should be regulated are actually the competitive advantages of the ride hailing companies. . . well, that and unfettered access to VC subsidized fares, but who's counting?

philipkglass 9y ago
It appears the basic reason for a taxi medallion system is to regulate the industry and control supply to prevent a flood of random drivers being unleashed on an unsuspecting populous. I'm fine with regulations to enforce safety. I'm not fine with the "control supply" aspect. Medallions shouldn't be rationed any more than driver's licenses in general; just require people to pass standard tests and documentation requirements to get a medallion. It's unfortunate that medallion systems seem to fuse a justification that clearly serves the public interest with one that serves the public to a much lesser degree, or even not at all.
verall 9y ago
> VC subsidized fares Although the conveniences granted by rideshare apps are a big deal, I think this is a huge component. At this point, in a busy(er) city, ridesharing is still very competitive, and prices are subsidized-low. Living in Austin, right before the city vote to require fingerprinting drivers, which Uber was heavily lobbying against, I could get an uberpool basically anywhere within the city for between $1 and $3. I'm just hoping that once companies start to raise prices more VCs come swooping in, kind of like still happens with growing websites. As a consumer, the cost of switching is very low.
weberc2 9y ago
> Unleash a flood of random drivers on an unsuspecting populous. Not sure if it's a "flood", but the volume of drivers is self-adjusting for the demand. As to the quality of drivers, I have no reason to believe Uber/Lyft drivers are worse than taxis. Chicago taxis drive like lunatics, but this hasn't been so much my experience with Uber/Lyft drivers, who seem to be a cross-section of Chicago drivers. And I don't know that the populace has been meaningfully "unsuspecting". So all in all, this seems like a net positive--one less thing for the government to spend money regulating in the long run and a better system for everyone else (probably the former caused the latter, but anyway...).

philipkglass 9y ago

It appears the basic reason for a taxi medallion system is to regulate the industry and control supply to prevent a flood of random drivers being unleashed on an unsuspecting populous. I'm fine with regulations to enforce safety. I'm not fine with the "control supply" aspect. Medallions shouldn't be rationed any more than driver's licenses in general; just require people to pass standard tests and documentation requirements to get a medallion. It's unfortunate that medallion systems seem to fuse a justification that clearly serves the public interest with one that serves the public to a much lesser degree, or even not at all.

verall 9y ago

> VC subsidized fares Although the conveniences granted by rideshare apps are a big deal, I think this is a huge component. At this point, in a busy(er) city, ridesharing is still very competitive, and prices are subsidized-low. Living in Austin, right before the city vote to require fingerprinting drivers, which Uber was heavily lobbying against, I could get an uberpool basically anywhere within the city for between $1 and $3. I'm just hoping that once companies start to raise prices more VCs come swooping in, kind of like still happens with growing websites. As a consumer, the cost of switching is very low.

weberc2 9y ago

> Unleash a flood of random drivers on an unsuspecting populous. Not sure if it's a "flood", but the volume of drivers is self-adjusting for the demand. As to the quality of drivers, I have no reason to believe Uber/Lyft drivers are worse than taxis. Chicago taxis drive like lunatics, but this hasn't been so much my experience with Uber/Lyft drivers, who seem to be a cross-section of Chicago drivers. And I don't know that the populace has been meaningfully "unsuspecting". So all in all, this seems like a net positive--one less thing for the government to spend money regulating in the long run and a better system for everyone else (probably the former caused the latter, but anyway...).