[droopyEyelids]

In Chicago all taxi drivers must obtain a Chauffeur's License before driving.

The Chauffeur's license exam includes background checks, tests for common infectious diseases (tuberculosis), and a basic knowledge test of the city.

Uber does background checks, but they don't test for TB and I've had three UberX drivers that didn't know where Lake Michigan was when we were two blocks away from it.

Also, licensed taxi drivers have a number that you can report to 311 for safety purposes.

I think Uber could have avoided a portion of this backlash if it would have taken more steps to ensure safety-parity while side-stepping the medallion limitations.

[barclay]

Not to sound like the classic idealist libertarian, but isn't this how uber and lyft will be better? You ride with someone who's clueless or an asshole, rate them 1-star, the ratings compound, and unless they improve quickly they're tossed out of the driver pool. Immediate impact.

[lmg643]

I think the rating is a pretty weak way to address issues like this.

I'm a big fan of Uber, but the insistent ratings are really annoying. For example - I take a ride, the car is fine, the driver is a little annoying, there is traffic and but we get there. Is that a "5" star ride? a 4 star ride? a 3 star ride? To me, 3 stars is average. to Uber, 3 stars is "you're fired." doesn't make sense.

Not to mention - how the heck would I know if he was vaccinated? that's just gross to contemplate. What if we rate him a 5, but then i get hospitalized with some crazy sickness later? and I thought taxis were dirty - i take it back.

Maybe public health officials might know something after all.

[null_ptr]

The whole point of stricter examinations is to avoid 1-star drivers to begin with.

[sanctuslibre]

Do you understand that if people care about these things, they won't use Uber? Before reading your comment, I didn't know cab companies tested for TB and I never thought to care. If TB were a problem in cabs, I would care, and I would use a cab service that tested its drivers.

[dubfan]

You and I didn't know that because the system works. Nobody gets TB from riding in cabs, so nobody knows it's a problem and nobody realizes unless they look into the regulation. This is the big problem I have with the libertarian free market ideal: it's fundamentally reactive, not proactive.

[sanctuslibre]

You are falling into a predictable fallacy. Predictable in that this comes up all the time when people talk about the government. The fact that the government provides a service does not imply that the service would not exist if the government did not do it. We could absolutely have cabs without the TB problem without the government. In fact, in areas where the government does not enforce its own monopoly, you see competition with government-provided services flourishing. UPS, FedEX, and DHL versus USPS. Private college loan providers. Private universities. Private schools. On and on. The idea that without the government doing it, we are going to have rampant TB-infested taxi drivers is just silly. No one wants to use such a taxi and they do not need the government to tell them that.

> "This is the big problem I have with the libertarian free market ideal: it's fundamentally reactive, not proactive."

I do not know if I should take that statement seriously. I expect if you think over that statement for even 30 seconds you can see why it is both a complete non sequitur and insane.

1) Laws are obviously reactive. I would bet all the money in my pockets against all the money in your pockets that TB testing was put in effect as a reaction to an event in which a taxi, bus, or train driver was spreading TB.

2) The free market is exactly as reactive or proactive as people are. This is its virtue. People providing other people what they want is the whole point, both of markets and, it is claimed by those who believe in the State, the government. No organization, government or otherwise, can get away from being reactive to human needs unless it provides things people do not want or need, and in what way would so doing be good?

3) It does not matter anyway. The point of all this is that people should be free to pursue their desires, regardless of the considerations of people who think they know better and are worried about things being "reactive" or "proactive". These concerns are simply petty against the moral position of freedom.

Look, I enjoy a good discussion on the internet as much as anyone. I have learned a lot from reading comments on HN. But I get the impression that you have not read any of the good arguments against your position. I am a poor substitute for any of the major thinkers in the libertarian tradition. If you want to save yourself reading, you can even watch videos of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, or Thomas Sowell on YouTube. I recommend Stefan Molyneux's show, Free Domain Radio. He discusses these issues often. You could even call into his show and have a long discussion with him on the topic. He entertains such calls often.

[MetaCosm]

"Regular"(black car) Uber drivers seem to go through the same thing. Test on the area, background check, have to carry special class insurance, special license. I am unfamiliar with UberX specifics.