

Night School: How regulators undermined a transportation startup - zmanian
http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/night-school-failed-because-it-followed-law

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Someone1234
Didn't like that article. Spent the entire thing waiting for exactly WHY they
shut down but got no real explanation. This is the entire meat of the article:

> But less than two weeks later, the week of its planned launch, Night School
> was postponed indefinitely while its founders grappled with the CPUC, which
> claimed the start-up was not properly licensed as a passenger carrier.

And that is literally the only explanation you get for what the regulators did
and why it caused them to scuttle the entire project. The entire rest of the
article is just crying about other car pooling services and complaining about
over-regulation in general.

Would like to read an article about Night School and why they weren't able to
operate under the regulation, this article just isn't it. It contains little
information and a ton of fluff.

~~~
smsm42
That's the only explanation, but why you need more? If CPUC doesn't give your
permission to operate, the only choice for you is either go the Uber way and
just ignore CPUC or shut down. The founders of Night School couldn't do the
former, so they did the latter.

As for why CPUC withheld the license, I'm not sure the founders even know. I'm
pretty sure they were presented with the very diverse array of paragraphs and
checkboxes, without which it is impossible for them to operate, and these
achieved their goal - the disruptors despaired and went away, letting the
bureaucracy get back to its comfortable slumber. The founders could, of
course, try to fight, hire a fixer[1], start a press campaign - but sometimes
it's just not worth it. People tried to do good, but the bureaucrats said - no
thanks, not on our turf. I think the picture is pretty clear.

[1] somebody like this:
[http://gideonstrumpet.info/?p=7201](http://gideonstrumpet.info/?p=7201)

------
rayiner
> The company would use the public school buses that sit unused in parking
> lots on the weekends, and charge $8 per ride or $15-20 per month for
> unlimited service (the price points fluctuated).

The real outrage would be if a private company were allowed to run a for-
profit transit service using public property, and an unlicensed one at that.

~~~
smsm42
Of course, it's better than the property is not used at all, and the people
remain without proper transportation - but at least the worst is avoided,
nobody is making a profit. That would be the worst, and thankfully, it is
averted, whatever the cost.

