They both provide the same service, and in much the same way. Why are the regulations so different between them? Uber seems to be able to get away with a lot of things that a taxi company would not be able to do.
Uber is under fire in a good number of municipalities for precisely that reason. Many cities do in fact say they should be regulated the same as taxis, Uber pretends that they are a simply offering ride sharing.
I think the answer is that technology moves faster than legislation and regulation.
I often hear this but I don’t buy it. There is no reason to think this technology outpaced legislation. There’s rules about hiring a guy to drive you some place and Uber does nothing more than that. Sure, there’s some features and pricing that makes it more attractive than calling your local cab company but at the end of the day, you called up a taxi to drive you somewhere. If Yellow Cab decided to switch to app only, do they get to stop paying fees and following legislation? If I order my pizza online, is it under different regulations than if I phone them?
I’m not arguing that the same rules should not apply to Uber as to licensed cab drivers. But clearly they do not. So an app and a new business model have effectively circumvented existing legislation governing public transport companies.
What do you mean; specific rules apply in the same market to all participants other than Uber?
But that’s just it, I don’t think they circumventing existing legislation so much as flouting it. If I open a restaurant, make all my employees “independant operators”, make my customers order through an app and then called it a “food sharing service” nobody would ever say technology outpaced restaurant regulations.
Why not? It certainly would apply. I mean, are restaurant pop-ups subject to the same food safety and building safety codes? They happen all the time.
Though I’m not familiar enough with food service regulations (nor public transport) to say this with a great deal of authority on the subject.
That’s basically it. They are unlicensed cabs. The app does a lot of neat things but bottom line the rider is paying the driver to drive them somewhere. I’m hoping to start up a similar business for unlicensed bars, you pull up an app and pay and I pour you a drink - no liquor license needed!
Are you talking about the uber drivers as employees vs independent contractors, or the licensing scheme for taxi medallions and the associated monopoly that Uber is breaking? There are other lawsuits as well, but I think those are the biggies.
A temporarily-hired car and driver is not necessarily a taxi. Local rules vary, but taxis and for-hire vehicles (livery, car service, black car, etc.) are often treated differently.
An Uber driver may not pick up a street hail AFAIK, and is thus not a taxi.
ETA that doesn’t mean local laws must allow them.
Of course restaurant pop-ups are subject to the same food safety codes. Is botulism less scary because the restaurant isn’t going to be there next week? You can get some differences in other rules because of the temporary nature but that is not applicable here.
I’m sure plenty of pop-ups don’t follow the rules and get away with it. Easier to do when you are not an ongoing, highly visible, international $50+ billion dollar company.
In that case, there’s no taxis in Las Vegas because they won’t pick you up on the street. Well, at least no taxis on the strip.
The short answer is “because Uber was designed specifically to be just outside the definition of a taxi to avoid regulation”.
In NYC, one of the features of a taxi is ability to hail them on the street. Only licensed taxis are allowed to accept hails. But there are also “car services” where you call ahead and have them pick you up sometime later, for example if you know you are going to need a ride to the airport at some point you can call for a car to pick you a day or a few hours in advance. And “car services” are not regulated like taxis.
So Uber is like a “car service” where you call head on your cell phone using the app, with a few minutes lead time rather than the usual hours. The question becomes, how short can the lead time get before it becomes equivalent to hailing on the street, which only actual taxis are allowed to do.
Is Uber following all the “car service” regulations in NYC? I would suppose they would all need a chauffeur license.
Like I said, local rulers vary.
Well yes. But that’s kind of the point. Uber didn’t worry about local rules until they got hauled into court. So in the jurisdictions where they just happen to comply, of course they aren’t being regulated differently in those areas.
Looking at the NYC rules on “for-hire drivers”, they seem to require a chauffeur’s license, a fingerprint based background check, some driving courses and a drug test. Don’t think any of those are in the standard Uber driver agreement.
I suspect they’re not allowed to use LV strip taxi stands either. I’ve not lived anywhere yet where Uber acts as a taxi. Vehicle for hire, maybe. But the answer to the OP is that they aren’t taxis.
Again, that’s where I’d expect the legal problems, not the taxi rules.