I think it's possible to look at this without getting dragged into the puritan free market vs regulation paradigm.
I think that regulation of taxi & public transport and/or the survival of these regulations post 1980s is a product of problems in that industry. The Taxi market often develops pathologies. Safety issues. Ripoffs (specially tourists). Congestion. etc. Those problems are real.
But… Uber solves or can love many of those problem just as well as regulation. Safety is improved because there is a record of everything. The ripoff/bad service caused by lack of repeat business is mitigated by the reputation system. They specialize in solving congestion problems with their supply-demand stuff.
The regulations just aren't needed to regulate what is sometimes called 'black cabs.' The fact that they compete with flag down taxis is irrelevant. These problems are not acute for this kind of service and forcing Uber to comply is not helpful.
Insurance, licensing, permuting & such are unsolved problems. Uber might be able to work out the insurance at some point. But.. these are more artificial problems, artifacts of the regulation as much as they are regulations there to solve a problem. Regulatory authorities should work to fix these themselves, to enable new kinds of services.
Uber puts more power into the hands of consumers. If this removes some of the need for industry regulation, industry regulation needs to adapt.
I think that regulation of taxi & public transport and/or the survival of these regulations post 1980s is a product of problems in that industry. The Taxi market often develops pathologies. Safety issues. Ripoffs (specially tourists). Congestion. etc. Those problems are real.
But… Uber solves or can love many of those problem just as well as regulation. Safety is improved because there is a record of everything. The ripoff/bad service caused by lack of repeat business is mitigated by the reputation system. They specialize in solving congestion problems with their supply-demand stuff.
The regulations just aren't needed to regulate what is sometimes called 'black cabs.' The fact that they compete with flag down taxis is irrelevant. These problems are not acute for this kind of service and forcing Uber to comply is not helpful.
Insurance, licensing, permuting & such are unsolved problems. Uber might be able to work out the insurance at some point. But.. these are more artificial problems, artifacts of the regulation as much as they are regulations there to solve a problem. Regulatory authorities should work to fix these themselves, to enable new kinds of services.
Uber puts more power into the hands of consumers. If this removes some of the need for industry regulation, industry regulation needs to adapt.