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The following is reprint from my Heartland Magazine article.

Jackson, Mississippi City Council Considers Regulating Uber

The Jackson, Mississippi City Council is considering a proposal to regulate Uber, a popular transportation network company connecting drivers and riders, similar to government-approved taxicab companies operating in the city.

In return for accepting the city government’s regulations, Uber would be allowed to pick up and drop off riders at the city’s airport, which they are currently prohibited from doing.

Jackson City Councilman Ashby Foote says legalizing transportation network companies such as Uber is an important way to attract visitors and economic activity.

“I think if we’re going to be seen as a pro-business, cutting-edge type of community, we need to make sure that Uber is available for those who are looking for it,” Foote said.

‘Uber-Friendly and Taxi-Friendly’

Foote says increasing the ease of getting around Jackson helps both consumers and the city.

“One of the things that worries me as a city councilman and citizen of Jackson is that we want to be business-friendly and make a good first impression on people visiting Jackson,” Foote said. “We have people visiting who are used to using Uber and may try to contact them once they arrive at the airport, only to find out they aren’t allowed in the vicinity to pick up rides.

“It makes a bad first impression on those business people who may be arriving to do business in Jackson,” Foote said. “It’s important that we be Uber-friendly and taxi-friendly.”

‘Fundamentally Different’

Matthew Feeney, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute, says regulating Uber drivers as though they are taxicab drivers is not good policy.

“In terms of regulating, there are a couple of options here.” Feeney said. “One would be, ‘Well, we should regulate Uber with their cars in the way that cabs are.’ I think that way is conceptually wrong. For one thing, Uber drivers are driving their own cars on their own time. They are fundamentally very different [from] taxis.”

Fewer Rules, Not More

“It is also not the right approach because, I think, it would be worth perhaps moving it to a ‘deregulatory program’ with regards to taxis,” Feeney said.

Feeney says the peer-to-peer economy’s nature replaces the need for government regulations.

“I think any attempt to get Uber operating in or around the airport should be welcomed,” Feeney said.  “With that all said, it seems to me that Uber is already carrying out background checks and [has] insurance schemes in place.”

Feeney says government regulators should work to accommodate Uber instead trying to fight it.

“It’s funny to me that they think they can use regulatory structures to keep Uber at bay for the foreseeable future,” Feeney said. “It’s unrealistic. Uber is not going anywhere. It’s unrealistic that taxi companies just think they can permanently keep new technology at bay. They have got to adapt to changes.”

Andrea Dillon (Thell1885@gmail.com) writes from Holly Springs, North Carolina.

Internet Info:

Lee A. Harris, “Taxicab Economics: The Freedom to Contract for a Ride,” Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy: https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/taxicab-economics-freedom-contract-ride/

The following is reprint from my Heartland Magazine article.

Florida County’s Lawmakers Back Down from Uber Fight

Ridesharing company Uber is back in operation in Broward County, Florida after a brief fight with county commissioners.

Following a proposed set of regulations that would have required ridesharing drivers to submit to criminal background checks and purchase commercial insurance and local work permits, Uber suspended operations county-wide, including in popular tourist destinations such as Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach.

Citing public disapproval, Broward County commissioners backed down from the proposal.

Safety for Whom?

Robert Krol, a professor of economics at California State University–Northridge, says taxicab regulations are less about protecting passengers and more about protecting taxicab company owners from competition.

“What always comes up is the safety issue, as if the taxicab driver or taxi service is necessarily safer than an Uber or Lyft kind of ride,” Krol said. “It’s just clear to me that taxicab services aren’t necessarily superior or safer. There’s no real hard evidence to support that.”

Instead of protecting taxicab companies against competition, Krol says incumbent businesses should have to compete equally with new entrants into the market.

“It seems to me what you want to let them do is let the taxicabs compete with the ride-shares,” Krol said. “Let them adopt the same types of technology and just let the competition play itself out.

“If [taxis] are the ones that can’t compete, they’d have to change the way they do business. They’d have to improve service quality,” Krol said. “To me, that’s the way we want to go, and I think it’s somewhat inevitable.”

Seeking Rent, Not Safety

Sal Nuzzo, vice president of policy at the James Madison Institute, says the Broward County commissioners’ regulations didn’t promote the best interests of consumers and taxpayers.

“The entire system for regulating the act of driving other people around for a fee is textbook rent-seeking,” Nuzzo said. “The idea that taxicab drivers are safer because of a government-backed regulatory system is a red herring.”

Exposing Regulatory ‘Fantasy’

Services such as Uber are shaking up old assumptions about regulations and the economy, Nuzzo says.

“[Citizens] have become immune to and expect a certain degree of negative effect to arise with government,” Nuzzo said. “So when an innovation like Uber comes along that does better with less government regulation—it accomplishes the regulation on its own because it has a market incentive to do so—the entrenched regulatory cartel screams whatever they think will resonate most.

“In reality, Uber is able to do in the free market what we have abdicated to government for far too long,” Nuzzo said. “Uber has effectively pulled back the veil and exposed the fantasy that government needs to regulate everything we do, for our own protection.”

Andrea Dillon (Thell1885@gmail.com) writes from Holly Springs, North Carolina