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It's pretty ridiculous that car-pooling (aka ride-sharing) is fully legal and unrestricted. However, the second you charge money for the same service, the regu
by pdq 12y ago
It's pretty ridiculous that car-pooling (aka ride-sharing) is fully legal and unrestricted.
However, the second you charge money for the same service, the regulators want to get involved to check for safety, inspections, and licensing.
- calbear81 12y agoYes, a commercial relationship changes the nature of that transaction since commercial transactions are regulated/taxed in many states.
- pdq 12y agoYou're missing the point. If the grounds are that ethically paying customers should have taxis licensed, why do those ethics not apply also to donated services, like car-pooling?
- rtpg 12y agoBecause in the donated service (car pooling) its much less likely that the people participating are doing so as members of the public. Its like the difference between me showing a movie in my house to 15 friends And me renting out a movie theatre and opening the doors for everyone to come in. Even if the same 15 friends show up, they do it as members of the public.
- ertdfgcb 12y agoBecause if there is money involved there is incentive to do it for a living, which leads to incentive to cut costs and that might not always be done in a consumer-friendly way; therefore regulation is needed. If there is no money involved, the people who would cut costs and make it unsafe for the consumer are rarer -- since they can't do it for a living, and the relationship is harder to regulate since the only thing involved is communication between two parties, so it's probably not worth it.
- mikeash 12y agoI'm pretty sure he sees the point you're making, but disagrees with it. While your question, which is already answered in the post you're replying to, indicates to me that you're missing the point.
- tmoullet 12y agoThere are a number of things (sex, homebrew, tax prep, massage, fishing, etc.) become regulated/illegal as soon as you start charging for them.
- tlrobinson 12y agoI wonder if you could circumvent these issues by making it donation only, but show riders' donation history to drivers before they choose to accept a rider. The donation is "optional" but unless you want to be effectively blacklisted (by individual drivers, not Uber/Lyft) you should leave a donation. I'm sure the taxi lobby would figure out a way to shut that down as well, of course.
- erohead 12y agoI think this is how lyft started out.
- ulfw 12y agoIt's pretty ridiculous that having sex (aka one night stands) is fully legal and unrestricted. However, the second you charge money for the same service, the regulators want to get involved to check for safety, inspections, and licensing.
- pdq 12y agoAs mentioned below, not if there's a camera involved. Then both parties are "actors", and the service is legal.
- thenmar 12y agoCan you find ANY evidence of this loophole holding up in court? You seem really sure but a quick google suggests that it's just as unrealistic and urban legendy as it sounds.