Regulations on cars-for-hire exist for a reason: to protect the safety of passengers by ensuring a minimal level of competence and to ensure recompense via adequate capital or insurance in the event of an accident.
A minimal level of competence? Safety of passengers? I've taken more than a few rides on all of SF taxis, Uber black cars, Uber X, and Lyft. SF taxis had the most hasty drivers, and a couple I really didn't feel comfortable riding with at all. With Uber/X and Lyft, I've never felt anything but safe, and I have never been harassed for using a credit card to pay.
These regulations work remarkably well, which is why so many people think they are unnecessary.
If everything works so well, why are so many people using Lyft? Have you ever called a taxi and not had it show up because it found another fare on the way to pick you up?
I'm sorry, but taxi service is broken in SF (the only place I've used it extensively). I prefer to make my own decision on what is safe and what isn't. I don't need a government that takes money from vested interests to tell me what's safe.
I drove a taxi a while back (not in SF) and I have to agree that a lot of taxis are extremely dubious in their level of safety. I only figured out after a spin-out that the company car I'd been assign had bald tires with uneven tire-pressure. And well, obviously I was inexperienced too or I might spotted that earlier but that's not uncommon.
But that is after all the regulations. With no regulation at all, things wind-up even diciers. Will you check the tire pressure of every car you get in?
The reason taxis are unsafe is because drivers and companies don't make much and try to extract every last dime from their rides and their cars and so-forth.
With more competition, less money to per drive and so-forth, I couldn't imagine how dodgy things will get.
I'd like to think I was pleasant and courteous. I doubt you can judge driver's skill by looking at his or her face so your eagerness to judge for yourself seems foolish.
I can believe Uber-now or Lyft-now looks good. Will you know when the safety goes out the window, considering there is constant pressure for that to happen?
I don't know why you think government regulation ensures safety. When it comes down to it, you're getting in a car with someone you've almost certainly never met, and trusting them to get you safely to a location. I don't claim to judge drivers' skill by looking at their face, but which of these situations seems more safe to you? Which is a better experience?
Lyft: I open up the app and get an approximate time of when I can get picked up if I decide to order a car so I can decide if it's the right choice. I then get a picture of the car, a picture of the driver, and the drivers' rating on my phone, and I can watch them come to me on a map. When they come, I'm greeted by a friendly face who going to get more or less money based on how well they service me. I know the car isn't going to be more than 12 years old, will be in good condition, and that the driver has had a background check.
Taxi: I call a company and hope that the cab comes. If it comes I have to try to figure out if they take credit card or if they're going to lie about their machine being broken. They drive me as fast as possible to my destination, without regard for comfort, because they're getting paid based on speed. I don't know anything about this person's driving record, or if other people have had generally good experiences with the driver.
You may very well have been a good driver, and I've taken taxis with good drivers. I've also taken a taxi with a driver who mumbled to himself (no, there was no phone/ear piece) and drove at a crazy pace without wearing a seatbelt. How long do you think he would last on Lyft or Uber, where drivers will get kicked off if they get rated too low?
I'll take Lyft every time, even if I see a taxi I could hail and get more quickly.
Read what I wrote. I make no claims about my ability - I'm a far better hacker than I was a driver or the goodness or taxis in general.
Like I said, I can totally believe Lyft is better than taxi services now. But the thing about any purely private system is that everything they do is going to ultimately be a cost-benefit trade to them and everyone in the equation is going to be trying to figure out new ways of making money. Look at email, look at craiglist, look at AirBnb. The large large scale produces problems unlike small scale. If someone comes up with X scam that lets them profit from Lyft or whoever in a dangerous way, will Lyft be spending it's entire margin tracking that problem down. Maybe.
The only thing about government regulation is that the state has authority to be more invasive than a private entity can be and is not limited by a cost benefit analysis. Government regulation is inefficient but unfortunately haven't yet demonstrated an iron clad better way to make sure things like commercial driving, electrical and other infrastructure work remain safe. It's problematic but it would also be problematic to do a large experiment with the physical safety of people.
A minimal level of competence? Safety of passengers? I've taken more than a few rides on all of SF taxis, Uber black cars, Uber X, and Lyft. SF taxis had the most hasty drivers, and a couple I really didn't feel comfortable riding with at all. With Uber/X and Lyft, I've never felt anything but safe, and I have never been harassed for using a credit card to pay.
These regulations work remarkably well, which is why so many people think they are unnecessary.
If everything works so well, why are so many people using Lyft? Have you ever called a taxi and not had it show up because it found another fare on the way to pick you up?
I'm sorry, but taxi service is broken in SF (the only place I've used it extensively). I prefer to make my own decision on what is safe and what isn't. I don't need a government that takes money from vested interests to tell me what's safe.