There isn’t any doubt that most riders prefer the advantages that Uber and Lyft rides provide them, and consider them to be not only superior to a taxi ride but also cheaper in cost. Yet, as good as this might well be for those that utilize these rideshare services, it has to be noted, that anytime there is a business in which some entities of the business are subject to specific rules and regulations that the other companies are not exposed to fully, provides, therefore, those that do not have to adhere to all those rules and regulations a massive advantage over the other. When it comes to taxi cab drivers, those that are its drivers, have to, in certain cities, purchase a medallion in order to have the privilege to drive for a particular taxi company, and also there is the payment of additional fees to the county and other regulatory agencies so as to conduct business, and finally the price for a ride with a taxi cab driver, is typically regulated by the regulating authority and therefore not at the discretion of the taxi cab company.
In fairness to taxi cabs, there needs to be a meeting somewhere in the middle with rideshare companies, that permits taxi cabs to be the same sort of thing that they have historically been but also provides them with what they need in order to become more competitive, which in the end, is beneficial to the consumer. So too, the protection for drivers of taxi cabs is far more robust than it is for Uber or Lyft because Uber and Lyft do everything within their power to classify those who drive for them, as independent contractors, which signifies that because they are not employees, they do not have the worker rights that employees would have, and further to the point, because they are typically not unionized, do not have a union to protect the drivers and therefore the stability of the work that they do for Uber or for Lyft.
Look, it has to be said, that the general public, for the most part, wants to take a ride with whoever has the best price and has the most robust app that works for them, and therefore they don’t really care about much of anything else. This is thereby the nature of the beast when it is the price that determines who does or does not get the business of driving people from one destination to the other. Therefore, this signifies that for taxis to compete against Uber and Lyft, it is in that pricing mechanism, that they need the rules and regulations that currently handcuff them in the doing of business, that need to be reconfigured so that they can remain competitive in this industry.
No doubt, things change in this modern age, and those who do not embrace that progress, are often left behind and thereby become irrelevant. That said, when the playing field is uneven, then the end result will favor one side over the other, which isn’t good ultimately for the consumer, for robust competition should be the preference when it comes to rideshare and taxis, in which, rules and regulations, must therefore change with the times.