Was there an international effort to show people what the world would be like without incumbent taxicab companies this week? In several European cities the drivers of dominant cab companies slowed down in traffic to protest the entrance of ridesharing companies into the system. Why? One driver stated that he was against “…big companies are coming in, not playing by the rules.”
In many places the “rules” are that dominant and incumbent cab companies are protected by a variety of measures that work to limit the supply of cabs and make new entrants prove that there is a need for their service by trying to win through the regulatory process.
If you were near the Pittsburgh International Airport this week you might have also noticed a taxicab slowdown, but rather than grinding to a halt to protest ridesharing companies here (which were recently slapped with fines by the Public Utility Commission while waiting for certificates and, at the same time, the incumbent’s ridesharing concept rolls along) the slowdown was because of a tiff with the Airport Authority. The drivers wanted to appeal Authority suspensions individually, but were told that must happen en masse by the company. Interestingly, whenever there have been complaints raised about service, it has been made clear that the drivers are independent contractors. But protests—whether to the Airport Authority or to the PUC on new entrants—are handled by cab companies.
