[walden42]

> He thinks that Uber is really unfair to union taxi drivers who jump through some hoops to get licensed, etc.

So they were forced to jump through ridiculous hoops, so should we force everyone to follow the same stupidity?

If anything, the solution is tear down these bureaucratic barriers and open up the competition for everyone. But you'll never see the taxis supporting this, because they know they'll lose, and would rather have their business propped up artificially using governmental force.

[cmarschner]

Taxi is a perfect market (exchangeable, homogenous product, low barriers of entry) so all profits will be competed out. But since drivers also need to make a living, everywhere in the world they have lobbied for protection so that they can keep some of the profits. Without that, they would work for (almost) free since many people would have an incentive to enter the market. Since they are also providing a service to the public governments have granted them extra protection. This is a system that has been working for a long time, and in the long run, Uber will not be able to change this.

[technofiend]

Uber already has changed it if you count taxi medallion prices into your equation.

http://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/6471/2016-03-08/uber-ly...

And more to the point - from the story

Competition from Uber and Lyft is so fierce that New York cabbies are going out of their way to be polite, engaging in chatter with riders and being helpful with packages, luggage and giving extra care to senior citizens.

Trust me - that too is a difference.