By Everet Rummel
This issue affects almost all city-dwellers, and cities around the world are taking action. Some view it as their own livelihoods being at stake. It has even sparkedmass protests in Europe [1]. The issue? Whether or not cities should allow Uber, and other GPS-based ridesharing services, to operate within their jurisdictions.
Ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft connect commuters with certified drivers willing to offer rides for a fare. The idea sounds innocent enough, but Portland and other cities strictly limit the number of taxis [2] and for-profit drivers who are allowed to operate, how small each cab company can be [3], and how much [4] or little [5] they can charge.
Across the U.S., governments have rushed to regulate ridesharing and sometimes ban it altogether. California has warned ridesharing companies [6] to stay clear of the airports. Virginia [7] and Austin, Texas [8] have banned them completely.
The European protesters claim it isn’t fair that ridesharing services can operate unregulated, while taxis are heavily regulated; the playing field isn’t level. And they’re right. But rather than cooking up expensive regulations and restricting taxis and ride-sharers in cities, which hurts customers, let’s make taxi and ridesharing drivers free to operate and earn a living. Let’s deregulate so more drivers are on the road and more customers are getting rides. As Portland andother cities [9] consider allowing Uber to operate legally, we should keep these points in mind.
Everet Rummel is a research associate at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization.