

BC Government wants Uber to "not detract from existing businesses" - imack
http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2012/11/safe-fair-passenger-transportation-a-priority.html

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spitfire
Sigh. I'm sorry.

Canada is a horribly, horribly conservative place. Best of luck offering
innovative services that challenge incumbents.

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frankus
Reminds me of a great article on taxis in general I read last year:

<http://daily.sightline.org/2011/08/05/freeing-taxis/>

"What if the Northwest’s cities legally capped the number of pizza delivery
cars? What if, despite growing urban population and disposable incomes, our
Pizza Delivery Oversight Boards had scarcely issued new delivery licenses
since 1975?"

I started talking about this with one of my Canadian friends and his response
was basically that limiting the number of cabs was clearly a good thing and
that it helped taxi drivers make a living. The argument that it was a bad
thing for anyone trying to get into the taxi business didn't really sway him.

My general impression is that while Americans are more willing to stand aside
when a market is clearly failing, Canadians are more willing to intervene when
a market is clearly working.

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bosch
While I'm for a disruptive force to the cab business, automobiles also should
have some licensing when transporting other people as a service with the
transaction of money. So I'm for Uber not being allowed in BC unless they
license their drivers. The question is, can the existing industry improve
without losing everything to entirely unregulated drivers who may have 5
previous hit and run convictions that no one knows about? There's going to be
a large market for lawsuits involving companies like Uber and AirBNB that
crowd source solutions.

I really have no idea why the hell there's a $75 minimum fee, that's
absolutely ridiculous!

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frankus
My understanding is that Uber is using only licensed drivers. But they're
using drivers who are licensed for limousines rather than taxicabs.

There are some pretty antiquated laws surrounding taxicabs in most larger
cities, and the degree of regulatory capture in the industry is pretty
staggering.

What's surprising is how blatant the protectionism is in this case.

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mijustin
Funny that governments always cite safety concerns, and yet I can't find any
research that shows that services like Uber are less safe than taking a
traditional cab.

What I do see are lots of lawsuits from incumbents about "unfair competition".

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mtgx
They are not even afraid to admit that they openly support the incumbents over
new competitors.

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shinratdr
Why should they be?

There is little wrong with the current cab system. Sometimes a race to the
bottom isn't what is best for everyone involved.

