Councilman Hakeem said the new set-up was a threat to the continued viability of cab companies. Bad for the taxicab industry but good for the public.
Taxi medallion prices are falling and so are sales volumes and the taxicab industry is fit to be tied. In New York medallion prices have fallen 17 percent in a just over a year and over 20 percent in Boston.
The taxi cab industry has enjoyed protectionism from the government for decades and now when faced with stiff competition they do what all industries do, call on government to stomp it out through regulations and other barriers to entry. They say they want a level playing field, that UBER has an unfair market advantage since they are not regulated. Who was it that called for regulation in the first place, not the public but the industry.
Hasn't government protected the taxicab industry for decades by limiting supply and creating an unfair advantage for consumers? What they need to be calling for is deregulation. All the regulation in the world would not get the taxicab industry to respond the way competition will. The free market system can decide the number of taxi's or UBER drivers that are needed for "public convenience and necessity" not local politicians and boards made up of members in the industry.
Mike Lynn