[temp-dude-87844]

Bigger cities typically regulate taxis and sell licenses to operate to taxi companies, who then employ or contract the drivers.

Uber was always an unlicensed taxi scheme. Their planned business model was to ignore the law to reduce costs, then sell rides below cost until everyone else is out of business.

[hackerlight]

That law is classic regulatory capture and anti-consumer, though. I have no problem that bad laws which are hostile to people are being broken.

[mschuster91]

> That law is classic regulatory capture and anti-consumer, though.

Taxis are usually regulated by law to provide mandatory service to an entire area at the same tariff - no discrimination based on the time of the day, the source or destination (e.g. "surge pricing" for events or effectively no service in poor neighborhoods), or if the passengers have any sort of disability.

When the regulated option goes out, a lot of people suddenly live at the whims of capitalist overlords and AI algorithms, but not under the rule of law any more.