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> A couple years ago, the city allowed independent car services to paint their cars green and take street hails. Does anyone else see the absurdity in that? Co

> A couple years ago, the city allowed independent car services to paint their cars green and take street hails. Does anyone else see the absurdity in that? Compare to: "In 2014, the city allowed people to wear green socks" If you want to transport people for a fee, what rational, moral justification is there for anyone to intervene in that? -To decide what colour your car should be, or where you can pick up customers?

mhaymo 11y ago
The road is a limited common resource, and it's difficult to directly charge drivers per their usage of it, so the local government uses other forms of regulation.
- sillygeese 11y ago
  Roads could be private too, and payments could be collected for (and only for) using them, even without setting up a state-maintained taxi monopoly/cartel. So I'm not sure what you think is currently handled well.
- yummyfajitas 11y ago
  It's not difficult at all. Gas taxes pretty much pay for this. Congestion charges also work nicely in cities.
  - arbitrage 11y ago
    Gas taxes are less equitable now with more electric vehicles.
    - yummyfajitas 11y ago
      As electric cars become more common, we can lower gas taxes to the point that they only cover environmental externalities and switch to a weight x mileage tax for roads. (Mileage to be measured at vehicle inspection time and incorporated in registration fees.)
- akgerber 11y ago
  It's actually not particularly difficult to charge drivers directly for their usage of roads in the Manhattan CBDs: http://iheartmoveny.org/ http://iheartmoveny.org/ It just would require a heavy political and bureaucratic lift.
imauld 11y ago
The major part of that was being able to pick up street hails not he color of the car. Cabbies themselves have been the biggest reason for all the regulation from the city. Picking up tourists and aimlessly driving around for half an hour to run up the meter, refusing to take people where they want to go and not picking up black people are just some of the shenanigans they pull on a regular basis.
- sillygeese 11y ago
  > Picking up tourists and aimlessly driving around for half an hour to run up the meter, refusing to take people where they want to go and not picking up black people are just some of the shenanigans they pull on a regular basis Well, if you need a X-hundred-thousand-dollar taxi "medallion" to be allowed to transport people for a fee, that cuts down on your competition quite nicely, and then you're not really motivated to provide a good service. Uber has shown that there are plenty of people who wouldn't mind transporting people for a fee, but they haven't been able (or motivated to) get permission to do so, which means the licensing system has been highly effective in keeping competition low and prices high, just the way the state-maintained monopoly/cartel wants it. Can an Uber driver pull nasty shit on people and keep getting gigs? No, but taxi drivers can, and there's a reason for that. Well there you go.
Lawtonfogle 11y ago
And you can. There is absolutely no law stopping your from picking up people in a car and taking them places. On land you own. When it is communal land, communal rules are made (sadly they far too often benefit a well connected minority, but the concept itself isn't bad).
- sillygeese 11y ago
  > And you can. There is absolutely no law stopping your from picking up people in a car and taking them places. On land you own. Imagine you could only wear blue socks on land you own, but anywhere else you'd need to pay $250k for permission to wear them. Would that be alright? > When it is communal land, communal rules are made (sadly they far too often benefit a well connected minority, but the concept itself isn't bad). You're kind of seeing a problem, but not really wanting to. But for starters, the word "communal" doesn't work when you have a small group of "community leaders" imposing their will on ~330 million "community members" they've never met.

mhaymo 11y ago

The road is a limited common resource, and it's difficult to directly charge drivers per their usage of it, so the local government uses other forms of regulation.

sillygeese 11y ago
Roads could be private too, and payments could be collected for (and only for) using them, even without setting up a state-maintained taxi monopoly/cartel. So I'm not sure what you think is currently handled well.
yummyfajitas 11y ago
It's not difficult at all. Gas taxes pretty much pay for this. Congestion charges also work nicely in cities.
- arbitrage 11y ago
  Gas taxes are less equitable now with more electric vehicles.
  - yummyfajitas 11y ago
    As electric cars become more common, we can lower gas taxes to the point that they only cover environmental externalities and switch to a weight x mileage tax for roads. (Mileage to be measured at vehicle inspection time and incorporated in registration fees.)
akgerber 11y ago
It's actually not particularly difficult to charge drivers directly for their usage of roads in the Manhattan CBDs: http://iheartmoveny.org/ http://iheartmoveny.org/ It just would require a heavy political and bureaucratic lift.

imauld 11y ago

The major part of that was being able to pick up street hails not he color of the car. Cabbies themselves have been the biggest reason for all the regulation from the city. Picking up tourists and aimlessly driving around for half an hour to run up the meter, refusing to take people where they want to go and not picking up black people are just some of the shenanigans they pull on a regular basis.

sillygeese 11y ago
> Picking up tourists and aimlessly driving around for half an hour to run up the meter, refusing to take people where they want to go and not picking up black people are just some of the shenanigans they pull on a regular basis Well, if you need a X-hundred-thousand-dollar taxi "medallion" to be allowed to transport people for a fee, that cuts down on your competition quite nicely, and then you're not really motivated to provide a good service. Uber has shown that there are plenty of people who wouldn't mind transporting people for a fee, but they haven't been able (or motivated to) get permission to do so, which means the licensing system has been highly effective in keeping competition low and prices high, just the way the state-maintained monopoly/cartel wants it. Can an Uber driver pull nasty shit on people and keep getting gigs? No, but taxi drivers can, and there's a reason for that. Well there you go.

Lawtonfogle 11y ago

And you can. There is absolutely no law stopping your from picking up people in a car and taking them places. On land you own. When it is communal land, communal rules are made (sadly they far too often benefit a well connected minority, but the concept itself isn't bad).

sillygeese 11y ago
> And you can. There is absolutely no law stopping your from picking up people in a car and taking them places. On land you own. Imagine you could only wear blue socks on land you own, but anywhere else you'd need to pay $250k for permission to wear them. Would that be alright? > When it is communal land, communal rules are made (sadly they far too often benefit a well connected minority, but the concept itself isn't bad). You're kind of seeing a problem, but not really wanting to. But for starters, the word "communal" doesn't work when you have a small group of "community leaders" imposing their will on ~330 million "community members" they've never met.