Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
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Re: Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
#2The problem with regulation isn't Uber. It's the extraordinary costs required to operate a taxi - mostly the $200k plate. If I can get a background check and a card certifying me to be allowed to work with children for about $50, why does it cost nearly $200k to get a taxi license. Require licenses, reduce the costs to improve competition, and let the various companies compete on service.
Re: Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
#3The problem with regulation isn't Uber. It's the extraordinary costs required to operate a taxi - mostly the $200k plate. If I can get a background check and a card certifying me to be allowed to work with children for about $50, why does it cost nearly $200k to get a taxi license. Require licenses, reduce the costs to improve competition, and let the various companies compete on service.
Isn't $200k the free market cost? The government isn't pocketing that money. That's the price you would expect from an asset that generates income with a limited supply.
Edit: why am I down voted to max? The government limits supply but the medallions are still sold on the market.
Re: Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
#4Will be interesting to see if they pull out like they've done in Austin. It's definitely been less convenient to go to a bar since they left.
Re: Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
#5The problem with regulation isn't Uber. It's the extraordinary costs required to operate a taxi - mostly the $200k plate. If I can get a background check and a card certifying me to be allowed to work with children for about $50, why does it cost nearly $200k to get a taxi license. Require licenses, reduce the costs to improve competition, and let the various companies compete on service.
Isn't $200k the free market cost? The government isn't pocketing that money. That's the price you would expect from an asset that generates income with a limited supply. Edit: why am I down voted to max? The government limits supply but the medallions are still sold on the market.
No, the supply is artificially limited by the government; there's no free market involved. That $200k is paid to the government.
(The claimed rationale for limiting the number of taxis is to reduce traffic. I would suspect the actual rationale is to favor the existing taxi businesses that already have licenses and don't want competition.)
Re: Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
#6This prompted my interest in what's the history and regulation behind taxi laws, particularly for Quebec.
So I searched, and found this document extremely enlightening. Note that it's from 1995, long before Uber, and gives many pros and cons and reasoning behind different types of legislation:
Re: Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
#7The problem with regulation isn't Uber. It's the extraordinary costs required to operate a taxi - mostly the $200k plate. If I can get a background check and a card certifying me to be allowed to work with children for about $50, why does it cost nearly $200k to get a taxi license. Require licenses, reduce the costs to improve competition, and let the various companies compete on service.
Isn't $200k the free market cost? The government isn't pocketing that money. That's the price you would expect from an asset that generates income with a limited supply. Edit: why am I down voted to max? The government limits supply but the medallions are still sold on the market.
[deleted]
Re: Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't $200k the free market cost? The government isn't pocketing that money. That's the price you would expect from an asset that generates income with a limited supply. Edit: why am I down voted to max? The government limits supply but the medallions are still sold on the market.
No, the supply is artificially limited by the government; there's no free market involved. That $200k is paid to the government. (The claimed rationale for limiting the number of taxis is to reduce traffic. I would suspect the actual rationale is to favor the existing taxi businesses that already have licenses and don't want competition.)
It's plainly obvious that the amount charged can't be related to the cost of the marginal traffic caused by the taxi. Even if you discount for the fact that a taxi is driving more often, it would mean that normal private car owners are inducing tens of thousands of dollars in negative externalities each year.
Re: Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
#9Will be interesting to see if they pull out like they've done in Austin. It's definitely been less convenient to go to a bar since they left.
They plan to stay
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/uber-quebec-deal-1.36...
In my opinion, the government and the ride hailing companies should have bought back a share of the taxi permit pool value, then cancelled them. It would have been costly, but by taxing the ride themselves (at a fixed rate) then letting competition drive the ride price down while increasing the ride volume. The government could have had their money back, eventually. Uber technically owe "theoretical tax money" since they operated without permit in a regulated industry. They had said at some point they didn't care about paying that back, so it would have been a better solution. After that, the regulations could have been lifted/relaxed.
The current deal isn't very good, but at least there is one. Technically, with self driving and automation (including apps), a lot of people will lose their job, so obviously they will resist changes, any changes. We can complain all we want as developers, but from the taxi driver point of view, change suck. Then again, in my opinion, so does regulation. One positive point, at least, is that this saga allowed time for discussions and consideration. A abrupt disruption would maybe have destabilized the industry too fast, while the time it took for this law to be passed allowed for the creation of a "middle market" where new taxis companies managed to enter the industry with hybrid solutions (including one Tesla/Leaf + app company) and the "dinosaurs" had time to [try to] adapt [and fail]. In the end, this did create more competition instead of players being pushed out and replaced by less players. There will be a market consolidation eventually anyway, but until that, the users will be the real winners.
Time will tell. I am still not convinced this law was the right call, but appreciated the debate.
Re: Quebec passes law to regulate Uber
#10The problem with regulation isn't Uber. It's the extraordinary costs required to operate a taxi - mostly the $200k plate. If I can get a background check and a card certifying me to be allowed to work with children for about $50, why does it cost nearly $200k to get a taxi license. Require licenses, reduce the costs to improve competition, and let the various companies compete on service.
Isn't $200k the free market cost? The government isn't pocketing that money. That's the price you would expect from an asset that generates income with a limited supply. Edit: why am I down voted to max? The government limits supply but the medallions are still sold on the market.
no, 200k is not a free market cost. yes, government is pocketing that money. limited supply - you mean uber drivers who are willing to offer services to riders?