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Massachusetts Governor Introduces Bill To Regulate Uber, Lyft
jfruh writes: The "wild west" days of ridesharing services may be coming to an end. The governor of Massachusetts has proposed a bill that would regulate Uber, Lyft, and their rivals in the state. Among the new rules: ridesharing services would have to run background checks on their drivers and keep a roster of active drivers; vehicles would need to have some external marker indicating that they're a ridesharing car; and drivers would need to hold at $1 million worth of insurance when transporting passengers.
Or they could classify them as taxis and leave legit ride shares alone. Its not ride sharing when you pick someone up and their location and deliver them anywhere they want. You aren't going near there, you are driving people for money, so you are a taxi driver... because internet doesn't change this.
The über price model reflects this with surge pricing to get more drivers on the road..... how can you do that with people who are just sharing rides?
Looks like I missed North Dakota, Hawaii, Arizona, New Mexico, Connecticut and one from Minnesota, that's just mentioned in their journal.
Well, if it walks like a taxicab and talks like a taxicab, how is it not a taxicab? Because you signal it with a hep and cool app instead of making a phone call?
Massachusets blows other states away in actual census data. Education, economy, median income, poverty rates, teen pregnancy.
And it isn't dependent on federal dollars, unlike other places. The reason for that is that Massachusetts isn't trying to race to the bottom with the South.
There's a term for that. Wait a minute, ... got it. The term is "the law".
sPH
This is Massachusetts doing what it does best - looking to rake in some tax money.
It's one of the reasons that if you look at the census data, Massachusetts comes out looking good. unlike say Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, etc etc
Massachusetts isn't a net burden on the US like those states are. Massachusetts pays it's own way and more than that it's a better place to live.
All those taxes and we get: universal healthcare (first in the nation), top ten schools nationally and a lower per capita rate of crime than half the nation.
Sounds pretty good. I wonder if it will extend to the ride share boards up in many of the state's colleges.
I doubt it. Those are actually ride sharing situations. People are actually going to a destination and willing to share expenses. Lyft and Uber call themselves Ridesharing, but they are actually a taxi for hire service.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
gotta love the government. stifling innovation for generations.....
What is innovative about an illegal taxi service?
These have been running in third world countries that I've been visiting for decades. They haven't caught on in the west as we tend not to like the violence and terrible driving that comes along with it.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
no, but there is no reason to regulate every business under the sun either. The governments role is not to tell people what they can and cant do with minor exceptions.sadly they never got that memo and are pushing for more and more control
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
You really don't grok that "liabilty" thing, do you?
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
That's sharing a taxi.
The pre-Uber general characterization of ride-sharing is person 1 is going from A to B, and offers/finds/solicits someone else (Person 2) from around A (or along the path from A to B) and drives with Person 2 further along the path to B or around B, drops off person 2, then Person 1 continues on to B.
Person 2 may give person 1 money and/or sex in exchange for the ride.
It's predicated on Person 1 already wanting to go from A to B.
Uber and Lyft have completely perverted the phrase, using it to refer to taxi rides arranged over the internet, at random prices, while ignoring any taxi regulations.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!