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A Backhanded Defense of Las Vegas' Taxi Regulation

Posted by timothy on from the professional-clowns-rather-than-amateur-clowns dept.

At Medium.com, Blake Ross takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the consumer protections that exist courtesy of the the Nevada Taxicab Authority, which (putting it mildly) seem to be rather more friendly to the existing taxi businesses in Las Vegas than they are to any disgruntled riders. By contrast with Uber (just booted from Las Vegas), Ross points out that the Taxicab Authority relies on antiquated complaint forms, random police checks, overlooked airport signs, and expensive tracking devices. Nonethess, says Ross, "I stand with Nevada and say—leave this to the pros."

7 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Monorail by XanC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Strip's monorail could trivially have extended to the airport, but that plan was nixed in order to preserve the taxis' revenue stream. What a crock.

    1. Re:Monorail by TWX · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Doesn't matter much when the hotel shuttle will pick me up anyway.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  2. We've already seen the alternative to regulation.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...in the taxi market, which is why we have regulation today.

    And we've already seen how psychopathically Uber is willing to behave, for the avoidance of doubt.

    Yeah, the first hit's always cheap. Do Americans have history classes in school?

  3. Re:We've already seen the alternative to regulatio by halivar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Do Americans have history classes in school?

    Yes, I can see eager young minds salivating at the thought of learning more about the exciting history of taxi regulation in the US. Come on, man; nobody in the nerderati even knew about taxi regulations until we started talking about Uber. Everyone's an expert on whatever topic they Google about.

  4. Re:We've already seen the alternative to regulatio by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apparently not. But I am American, and I understand the problem here.

    What bothers me isn't the lack of an understanding of history but rather a lack of understanding about civics.

    Regulations can suck, but they don't -have- to.

    If the regulation sucks, reform the regulations. Don't throw a huge hissy fit and shit the bed out of spite.

    There's so much entitled Valley logic in the business model at Uber that it's hideously disturbing,

    (Not to mention the whole "let's get a PI on a journalist who didn't like us" thing)

    --
    Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
  5. Re:We've already seen the alternative to regulatio by Firethorn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, taxis have their own horror stories, including at least one serial killer.

    Sexual assault is only a click away (googled "taxi driver assault" and skipped the advertisement)

    Grabbing the breasts is only ONE of the things this taxi driver did...

    kidnap and rape

    But I understand your rebuttal of somebody saying they've never heard of a ride gone bad with Uber. Personally, I think the important part would be rate at which things go wrong(and horribly wrong).

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
  6. Re:We've already seen the alternative to regulatio by Richy_T · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes. It's called rugby.