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Am I the only person that thinks government regulation is a reasonable thing for the taxi industry? Regulations on work hours, car safety, tougher environmental

• Meekro 12y ago
  All the things you listed are perfectly reasonable. But, in some regions, the government deliberately issues too few medallions. This means consumers pay higher prices, and all that money goes to well-connected people who managed to get the medallions. Those people don't actually drive the taxis, they just take the money. Better regulation, like what you describe, seems better than no regulation, but I'd be willing to accept no taxi regulation if it gets rid of the political cronyism and high prices that go with it.
  • skosuri 12y ago
    I don't use Uber, but is it generally cheaper than taxis?
    • BrentOzar 12y ago
      > I don't use Uber, but is it generally cheaper than taxis? no, generally more expensive, but the product is way better. My girlfriend gets sick with exhaust vapors when typical cheap taxi drivers lave their windows open and insist their AC is broken. Taxi shocks are usually shot, and the ride crashes around on city streets. Uber has nice, comfy, clean, big, air conditioned vehicles. Worth the extra money.
      • silencio 12y ago
        I started to get sick on one of my last Uber rides because the driver had on an absurd amount of cologne. Another had no clue what he was doing and explicitly took the street he was told not to take, getting stuck in the traffic I was hoping to avoid. Some of them are really reckless about driving too, sometimes ignoring posted signs altogether, and I think the only saving grace is that the cars are usually brand new. I could go on about how much I have a problem with Uber, just like how much I hate taxis. The only nice thing about Uber here is that there's an easy way to get in touch and fix a problem. That for sure, I agree, is worth the cost. That being said, I've found UberX in SF is cheaper than cabs, so I have even less interest in taking cabs.... but the last few cities I went to like NYC and Miami, the cabs were great. Wish SFMTA would step it up...
        • ryanross 12y ago
          Anybody skeptical of Lyft needs to try the service for FREE 1. Download the Lyft app 2. Enter code LOSANGELES (works nationwide) 3. Request and enjoy your FREE ride 4. Repeat on another phone to ride home for free
    • pjscott 12y ago
      Usually more expensive, but that depends on when you ride -- prices go up during hours of peak demand, like Friday nights, and fall at other times. Some rough numbers here: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304250204579433113467536876 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230425020...
• Justen 12y ago
  I don't see why a special set of rules have to apply to just taxi drivers. Isn't working hours regulated already by OSHA? Car safety by the NHTSA? Requiring a pickup might be something that doesn't even need enforcing when there are dozens of drivers in your area.
  • skosuri 12y ago
    Well taxi's are on the road a lot more than normal cars. There are separate rules for commercial vehicles for instance. Also, since most of the driver's are freelancers (and not Uber employees), I don't see how OSHA rules apply (although perhaps I'm wrong).
    • simonk 12y ago
      The different rules for commercial vehicles are because the vehicles need a lot more maintenance to be safe on the road. Delivery drivers don't get any more inspections.
• imroot 12y ago
  The biggest issue that I have with this is that the government regulations are meaningless these days due to lack of code enforcement. Two great examples: 1.) Staying in Fremont, CA, needing a trip to the San Jose airport at 4:50 in the morning. I had a cab 'scheduled' but a few drivers didn't show up, and they didn't bother calling me to let me know that they were not going to show up. The dispatcher didn't speak english well and didn't understand the questions that I asked. If I had instant feedback that nobody was coming, I would have made alternate plans the minute that I knew nobody was going to pick me up. 2.) In Chicago for a business trip. I generally don't carry cash, but, needed a ride from point a to point b. Taxi driver's sticker said he took credit cards, but his machine was 'down.' A "standoff" of sorts occurred between me, the taxi driver, and Chicago PD; ultimately, after the police harassing him (and reminding him that a working credit card reader was required in the city), he reluctantly ran my credit card and let me out of his car. It's unfair that the Taxi companies skirt these rules too -- Uber and Lyft just give their ecosystems a quicker way to get ride of bad actors and focus on customer service, where the Taxi companies are focused on keeping the medallion owners happy.
  • skosuri 12y ago
    I've seen the other way around just as much if not more so. People calling taxis and then not waiting for the one they called, with a driver just hanging around. My experience in Boston was quite good over many hundreds of taxis rides. As far as I saw, the rules were generally followed.
  • dkarapetyan 12y ago
    I've never had this issue. Every dispatcher has spoken very clearly and my cab orders have arrived on or ahead of time every time. As for the credit card issue that is easy enough to fix. I always give them a cash tip and then ask them to put the actual travel charge on a credit card.
    • AJ007 12y ago
      Cities vary. There are good cab drivers, bad ones, and really bad ones. I've had the same things happen to me as the previous poster: didn't show up, claimed credit card didn't work (frequent.) I have also had a few other things: kidnapped, cab driver trying to run other cars off the road, talking on cell phone (40% - 60% of the time), stopping for gas, picking up their friends, operate a vehicle with brakes that were clearly barely operable, and so on. Uber has bad drivers too, but I assume they don't last long. In NYC, at least, cab drivers can expect to keep driving even after killing pedestrians. http://nypost.com/2014/02/09/cabbies-who-kill-or-maim-in-nyc-keep-licenses-return-to-work/ http://nypost.com/2014/02/09/cabbies-who-kill-or-maim-in-nyc...
• DenisM 12y ago
  It's a nice theory, but in my experience taxi drivers are often clueless and/or cheating, and their cars are often run-down. Literally every single time I have used a taxi in the last couple of years it was at least one of these three problems. The current regulation regime does not produce safety, fairness or improve quality, but it does stifle competition.
  • skosuri 12y ago
    Well it's one against one. I didn't own a car for the last 12 years. I've had an overall great experience with taxis over many hundreds of taxi rides. So we can compare our usage, but your anecdote is just that.
    • DenisM 12y ago
      My anecdote is just enough to show it's not a slam-dunk victory for regulated cab regime. The question we should be debating is the relative quality of regulated Taxi vs. Uber-style free market. To make progress we would need to allow Uber to operate for some time, and then look at the accident/crime/satisfaction surveys. Speculating about what regulation can do for us in theory is fruitless, and denying the opportunity for alternatives to be tested out, which is what those cab-lobbies advocate, is dishonest.
    • AJ007 12y ago
      What city?
      • skosuri 12y ago
        Boston
• insertnickname 12y ago
  >Should all services be unregulated? They should be regulated by the market. Consumers will buy what they want and suppliers will conform to demand or go out of business.
  • skosuri 12y ago
    Doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, etc as well?
    • icelancer 12y ago
      I buy all my prescription drugs over the Internet without a valid Rx. Not all that interested in heading to the GP to get a script that says "This has been a recurring problem" for the price of an outrageous co-pay and possibly a hassle from my insurance company.
  • runn1ng 12y ago
    That's a nice theory, but I think that's what got us into the regulation in the first place. People basically don't know the place, don't know the cabs drivers, and you can't really choose based on quality if you are stuck in an unknown city with same-looking cabs. Now Uber is probably changing all that thanks to mobile internet, but that wasn't possible before.
    • deleted 12y ago
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• rhizome 12y ago
  Regulation is one thing, but I think a buried innovation of on-call driver services is the disintermediation of reservations that removes the dispatcher's judgement that serves to decrease service in certain situations.
  • skosuri 12y ago
    That just means that there is room for a company to develop and create better dispatch software for the taxi industry, not that all regulation should be decimated to make dispatching better.
    • rhizome 12y ago
      They are different issues, and the historical controversies (where I live) over dispatch policies and biases imply the taxi industry is in no hurry to eliminate their Louie De Palmas. Urban taxi companies have many, many problems that have persisted for decades. There is no one solution that covers all of them.
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• dkarapetyan 12y ago
  What people don't realize is neither Uber nor medallion owners care one bit for the people they are meant to serve. Arguments on all sides are driven by selfish parties that only want to set up a system to benefit them. At the end of the day Uber would like to be the only game in town and Uber investors would like nothing more than a well-oiled corporate machine that prints money. So all this talk of consumer choice and safety is a red herring. It's definitely good marketing but don't be fooled into thinking Uber is helping anyone but themselves when they push for deregulation. So yes I'm with you on this one. I also find it a little funny that everyone brings up anecdotal evidence about shitty cab drivers and awesome Uber drivers as an argument for deregulation. Such micro activities are meaningless in the face of what happens at the macro-economic scale.
• michaelochurch 12y ago
  Am I the only person that thinks government regulation is a reasonable thing for the taxi industry? Regulations on work hours, car safety, tougher environmental standards, driver training, requiring pickup if called, etc all seem reasonable. I agree. The medallion system is a disaster. In fact, it's systemized government corruption. Most of these medallion-owning assholes have never driven a taxi in their lives. They're just rent-seeking vampires. The purpose of limiting the supply of drivers is to prevent a race to the bottom-- and I would generally support that, for a variety of reasons. But the effect of the medallion system is that drivers do no better under the system than without it, because they have to pay enormous leasing fees. A fully unregulated system is a bad idea (it means you're screwed if you live in the outer boroughs, it will encourage unsafe conditions and driving) but the medallion system needs to be shut down. I do think things like Uber and Airbnb are very cool and innovative Uber is an evil company. It's not surge pricing alone that makes it evil. It's the complete lack of transparency around surge pricing, and the fact that (unlike Lyft) it increases its own take when surge is in effect. It's one thing for prices to go up when the supply of cars can't mean demand. It's an entirely different situation when the (a) pricing algorithm is opaque and (b) it's determined unilaterally by a company with every incentive to manipulate it. I am glad to see the medallion parasites under threat, though. If I were mayor of any of these cities, my first move would be to scrap the medallion system, with no compensation to their owners.
  • refurb 12y ago
    How is surge pricing "evil"? You are free to use Uber or not. When surge pricing is in effect, you have to agree to it before going forward in the app. It's not hard. If you don't like the price of something, don't buy it.
    • michaelochurch 12y ago
      Uber is evil because it doesn't publish the conditions under which surge pricing will occur, and because surge pricing often happens when there are plenty of drivers available. Uber collects when surge pricing is in effect, which means that there's a conflict of interest in how it manages this algorithm, which is not really a free market. In a free market, drivers and riders (not Uber) would decide on the price point for each level of service and availability.
• Shivetya 12y ago
  Where do you stop? I am sure we can point to any service/industry and find enough "reasons" to regulate it. Did you know in many cities you cannot be a tour guide without a license? Open a hair salon? Want to do business with a government agency, well there might be rules pertaining to the services your business provides in that case, and that case only. The list goes on and on. Eventually we need to really analyze what really is important. I would say if life is on the line then you might be justified, but driving a few people between points on a map?
• MarkMc 12y ago
  Car safety and work hours; yes. But it's not clear to me that other types of regulation are desirable. Environmental standards should be the same for all cars; driver training has been made almost redundant by sat-nav systems; a reputation-based system might be better than a 'requiring pickup' system. In particular, I want a regulatory system that makes it easy for someone to be a taxi driver only from midnight to 2am on Saturday nights. Or only to and from the airport between 3pm and 6pm. This is the sort of flexibility that brings down costs overall.