> ...if one of those stops, we're going back to unavailable, dirty, unsafe, cabs with perpetually broken credit card readers.
I think it's disingenuous to suggest that there's no middleground to between complying with regulations and providing poor service.
There's definitely an argument to be made that the laws should be rewritten to be more conducive to competition while maintaining consumer protections, but let's not pretend that Uber isn't a taxi service and doesn't deserve to be treated as such.
but in reality there isn't. In Athens, Greece, a 15 minute ride to the airport in 45 euros, in an old crappy cab reeking of tobacco smoke and driver not speaking English. Average salary there is 1100 euro/month. This racket is immoral and should be broken without any hesitation, no matter how loudly cab drivers complain about lost wages.
> In Athens, Greece, a 15 minute ride to the airport in 45 euros
This seems very different from my experience in Athens two weeks ago. According to Google maps, getting from the city to the airport by car takes around 40 minutes by car and the alternative of taking the train costs 10 euros per person for the same amount of time. Paying around 40 euros seems reasonable for such a long trip if you have more than one person.
It depends on your driver. I got conned in Athens too - the driver had a little button beside his gear stick that would add 1 Euro everytime he hit it. He pressed that button a lot, and the fare was around 40 Euros. I have him a 50, and he did a trick with his hand to produce a 5 Euro note that he said I have him, trying to get yet more money out of me.
Honestly, as a tourist I absolutely fucking hate taking taxis :-/
What incentive do taxi companies have under existing regulations to make the lives of passengers any better? They have been granted A monopoly by the government and passengers will have to take them however bad they are because no competition is allowed.
I don't know about where you live, but where I live (London) the black cabs face competition from dozens of minicab companies everywhere, and most of them have apps, and there are aggregatd services. The only thing the black cabs have a monopoly on is picking up people off the street without a booking or from taxi stands; but given that in most cities here a minicab company is a few minutes walk away, and usually having one come to you will take minutes, I use minicabs more often than I use black cabs.
That said, the service I get from black taxis is routinely better.
As for other incentives: They get dictated improvements and failing to make the required changes will cost them their license.
I think it's disingenuous to suggest that there's no middleground to between complying with regulations and providing poor service.
There's definitely an argument to be made that the laws should be rewritten to be more conducive to competition while maintaining consumer protections, but let's not pretend that Uber isn't a taxi service and doesn't deserve to be treated as such.