[bane]

From another comment upstream

>It doesn't appear to be a problem with Uber or Lyft since they have some kind of QC, but what happens when the market is deregulated for anybody to open up whatever kind of taxi service they want? It's the next next guys that worry me.

> Correlation does not imply causation.

Correct, that is until the causation is understood to have been detected by the correlation.

Your claim now puts the burden on your to demonstrate that unregulated taxis, in countries with regulated taxi systems, are at least as safe as regulated ones. And I can tell you before you start that you won't find that to be true.

[aianus]

> Your claim now puts the burden on your to demonstrate that unregulated taxis, in countries with regulated taxi systems, are at least as safe as regulated ones.

I can only offer anecdotes, but UberX has been simultaneously cheaper, friendlier, and safer than taking Taxis for me in SF. The first and only time I took a Taxi in SF the guy did an illegal u-turn from the right lane without checking his mirrors and almost got us all killed.

I would be very surprised to find that Uber is less safe overall, if only because the Taxi companies and regulators would be screaming it from the rooftops.

[bane]

Everybody keeps giving examples of Uber in SF, but we haven't been talking about Uber for quite a while, and none of my claims or questions were about Uber.

[aianus]

Uber is what unregulated taxis look like in the first world. Deregulating taxis will not magically turn the United States into Colombia.