[mschuster91]

> Cell phone penetration in the US is above 85%. Cell phone penetration has been higher in developing countries for years.

Taxis should be available for everyone, not just the 85% that own a smartphone and don't end up banned by the app out of random [1].

That existing taxi companies don't follow up to the regulations is a different problem (and one where the government definitely has to step up), but Uber and friends aren't even required to follow the same rules, that is the whole point of why these kind of services are so dangerous for society!

[1] https://www.johnnyjet.com/got-banned-uber-fix-problem/

[scarface74]

Taxis aren’t available “to everyone” they don’t go into “dangerous neighborhoods” or pick up minorities

[mschuster91]

To repeat myself in a bit more detail: by law and regulations they are available to everyone. Non-discrimination is a criteria in almost all medallion / license contracts, not to mention certain laws (e.g. the ADA [1]).

These laws and regulations are, I admit that, often sparsely enforced and most people don't complain anyway, which makes the problem worse as it isn't quantified and shows up on the statistics that politicians and activist groups use either. A lack of data is the single biggest issue in fighting discrimination!

The solution however is not to promote apps like Uber, to which taxicab regulations do not apply at all (or severely restricted) and which just a few weeks ago entered a multi-million dollar settlement for over 65.000 cases of discrimination because they violated the one law that actually is enforced [2].

[1] search for "taxi" on https://www.ada.gov/enforce_current.htm

[2] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/uber-commits-changes-and-pays...

[scarface74]

Well, we have an existence proof. The government that you wanted to depend on didn’t in fact do it’s job, a private company did. But you believe that the government will get it right next time?

[mschuster91]

> a private company did.

They did not. Uber also got caught discriminating against people.

> But you believe that the government will get it right next time?

I have more faith in government than in private companies which have a massive financial interest in saving the money that compliance with anti-discrimination regulation costs.