Easy: because many of the problems the bad businesses will cause are externalities.
Your argument as stated is, "we should eliminate all taxicab and car service regulation". I assume you want to refine it a bit more. At the very least, if that's your stance, you can no longer argue that it is crazy for the state to shut down services like this: first, pass the law that deregulates cabs, then start the shadow taxi dispatch service.
No, I kinda like it the way it is actually. Look, I think cab regulation is a good thing; let it be regulated. Despite the inherent inefficiencies and abuse that comes with any sort of regulation, I'm sure it helps consumers by providing strict rules for cabbies and cab companies.
Except, we're not talking about a Cab company because it's not licensed as one. If I want to drive people around in my car all day for a fee and I put an ad in the newspaper that says "Tom's Kinda Cab Company; I Drive You Places" why should that be illegal? If someone asks "Is this a regulated cab service" I say "No, but it's half the price!" Either they use my service or they don't. If I get turned down by so many people that it's not viable employment, I guess it's time to look elsewhere.
And, perhaps I'm being naive here, but I have no reason to believe that if I were to provide a horrible service that it would somehow affect the bottom line of Yellow Cab. I'm all about giving people choices and letting the market decide. If you decide to order a cab from some deregulated company you've never heard of and you get kidnapped and tortured instead of driven to the bar, well, that's your own fault. It's certainly not "all the cab companies'" fault. And that cab company probably won't be around long.
I think I mostly agree. But then, we're talking about a condition that assumes PickupPal fails as an enterprise. If they succeed, and this is forced to scale, then there's a real issue.
My original argument is really just that "it's not crazy for there to be a legal concern about this service". I think my argument is holding up OK.
I have all sorts of concerns about such a service, I just don't think Government should decide if I get to worry about those concerns or if they'll just eliminate them for me by taking away the choice in the first place.
And, no, I would not classify a legal concern in this matter as "crazy."
Your argument as stated is, "we should eliminate all taxicab and car service regulation". I assume you want to refine it a bit more. At the very least, if that's your stance, you can no longer argue that it is crazy for the state to shut down services like this: first, pass the law that deregulates cabs, then start the shadow taxi dispatch service.