This is a longer version of my comment to The NY Times in response to their article New York City Caps Uber and Lyft Vehicles in a Crackdown
The New York city council’s decision to cap for hire permits for a year and regulate pay seems like another misguided attempt by regulators that will likely backfire. Shouldn’t they separate concerns and deal with each one appropriately? If congestion is a problem, that means there are too many vehicles on the road at one time. So why not start charging congestion and surge fees to all drivers. We have technology to do this automatically through either transponders or license plates. This would treat all vehicles equally, though large trucks should probably have a higher fee. A free market is the best way we know to price a scarce resource. Congested roads mean that roads are a scarce resource. Electronically available information on fees could be used to alert drivers about the tolls in real time, allowing them to choose when to travel. It would also encourage car pooling. Ride share driver suicides and pay are separate issues. Why conflate them in one big bundle of hastily enacted rules? Note that the new rules exclude wheel chair accessible vehicles. This then becomes a way to game the system and will probably put even larger vehicles on the road.
Why do regulators seem so insane? Am I missing payback from Taxi services here? There must be money changing hands somewhere.