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Comment by hack_edu | Hacker News Reader

And the reasons for regulation go beyond consumer protection from shady drivers. Cab companies are regulated in many cities so that they, literally, are part of the public transportation infrastructure. NPR had a recent story about the taxi-towncar debate in Portland that lays out why certain regulations exist, and affords some amount of justification in this debate. Simply put; taxis can't discriminate fares/hours while towncar companies can.

Their source claims that law requires they provide a certain level of service 24 hours a day, 365 days per year regardless of demand. This includes a large portion of cabs be equipped to accommodate the disabled. Further, they are not allowed to discriminate based on the distance or size of fare.[1]

1. http://www.npr.org/2012/06/19/155305029/its-taxis-vs-limos-i...

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But taxis still discriminate all the time. Call a cab to come pick you up at your house. They're legally required to come, but there's strong odds that they won't. A lot of taxi drivers will ask where you're headed before you get in. If it's to an area they don't want to go, they'll just take off and leave you there waiting and waiting.

The regulations in place are rarely (if ever) enforced. It's an issue for the free market to settle. Let consumers decide if they want 24 hour a day 365 days per year service, and they can hire the company that will meet that demand. If they want drivers to come pick them up at their house, let them choose a company that is willing to do that. Setting an artificial price floor doesn't do anything other than limit consumer's choices.

To be fair, before smart-phones were invented, the free market wouldn't have worked well for cabs. Cab drivers have zero incentive to compete on quality, because which cab/company you hire is based on who is nearby, not on your previous experience with that cab/company.

Now that you can dial up a cab on your smart phone, things might be quite different.

It would be good for Uber and other companies to take some of these reasons into account and proactively meet some of those needs that led to some of the regulations. A great example that puts them in an awesome position to debate with the taxi commission is having handicap capable cars.

Doing so would put themselves in a position where they are much harder to vilify.

Yet as a wheelchair user in SF, I have huge difficulty hailing a cab, but Uber will come pick me up in 5 minutes anywhere in the city.

There is a big big difference between "regulations say the taxi company must do X" and taxi companies actually doing X.

If NPR was interested in journalism they could try calling some cab companies for a ride form the city center out to the boonies, where the drivers were unlikely to find a return fare.

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