Uber vs. Taxi Clash Heats Up at Massachusetts Statehouse

By | September 18, 2015

  • September 18, 2015 at 1:59 pm
    SEAN says:
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    Uber & Lyft are “interlopers” in the transporation biz! They want all the benefits without assuming any of the risk or financial investment… Wouldn’t be Wonderful for all of us if it were only that easy?

    • September 22, 2015 at 10:46 am
      Dave says:
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      So what you’re saying is that the government should enforce high barriers of entry created by and for an industry that refuses to adapt and offers a crummy service that is worse in every aspect than a new way of doing business. The taxicab cartels can take their crony capitalism and shove it. Uber and Lyft are the future.

  • September 18, 2015 at 2:07 pm
    Jack Kanauph says:
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    I flew into a major airport recently and was being picked up by a friend. I waited just past the taxi stand. Can’t tell you how many Uber drivers stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride and how he would be cheaper than a taxi. I saw another Uber stop and ask a couple who were waiting for their Uber ride if they wanted to use him. He looked at their Uber sheet and said if they went with him he would do it for less money. He showed them Uber ID as well. In those situations, it is not a level playing field with the taxis.

    • September 18, 2015 at 4:26 pm
      Dana says:
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      Jack you are full of shit. First off we don’t have UBER ID’s and secondly we are not that stupid to ask a pedestrian if they want a ride, that is not something UBER is allowed to do. So stop lying and trying to make UBER look bad, LIAR!

      • September 21, 2015 at 10:02 am
        Jack Kanauph says:
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        I could care less about Uber, Lyft or traditional taxis. I saw this happen and thought it was unfair to the taxis. He was an Uber driver that got “stood up” by his fare so he was looking to get another rider. He targeted people who were obviously waiting for a ride. It happened!

      • September 21, 2015 at 2:12 pm
        Hmmmm says:
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        Dana — not an appropriate response. It is possible to register your comments without your inappropriate language. This is a professional publication.

        • September 22, 2015 at 5:17 pm
          Nebraskan says:
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          Tell that to Agent…..

          • September 23, 2015 at 11:33 am
            Confused says:
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            …..and bob

  • September 21, 2015 at 1:51 pm
    Trish says:
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    Uber, and the big money behind it, is flexing it’s muscle. They are transferring risk to the poor Uber driver – a great deal for Uber. Uber is a taxi service. If the regulations are going to be so simple for Uber, then they should be the same for any taxi company: No regulated fares, no CPR training, no vehicle safety inspections, etc. Uber says they provide service in “desert” areas. I would like to see how many Uber drivers respond for calls in ANY ghetto area. Taxi companies do not tell the drivers where the address is until the driver clicks in that he will take the call. Therefore, taxis are the ones providing service in those ghettos, not your average “college kid”, “retired person”, “housewife”, etc., that drives for Uber.

  • September 22, 2015 at 10:09 am
    Dave says:
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    It’s hilarious to see the various taxicab commissions around the country cry foul about Uber when they have been busy cramming government-enforced barriers to entry down our throats for decades. They were more interested in colluding together to limit the supply of medallions than in providing good service.

    In my city, taxi service is abysmal and has been for as long as I can remember. If you have to call for one, you’re lucky if they show up 45 minutes later if at all. They routinely take longer routes on purpose so that they can milk out a higher fare. They always claim that their credit card machine is “broken” and can only take cash, only to have it miraculously be fixed when you threaten to call the company they work for. They refuse to adapt to modern times and not one of the taxi companies have a usable mobile app to hail cabs.

    The fact of the matter is that Uber offers a service that is superior in every way to taxis. Uber is cheaper, provides more reliable service, and they are incapable of milking the meter by taking longer routes because Uber monitors their routes via GPS tracking. I had a newbie Uber driver take a wrong turn that ended up adding a couple of extra miles to the trip. He apologized profusely and refunded me the entire fare.

    You can choose which Uber driver you want based on how they are reviewed, so you can weed out the good ones from the bad ones. With taxis, it’s a crap shoot. You can luck out and get a normal person trying to make a living, or more likely you’ll get a guy with a bad attitude with a chip on his shoulder, a lead foot, and a penchant for choosing the longest route possible.

    Good riddance to the taxicab industry. You dug your own graves by heavily lobbying the government to create a mess of ordinances and regulations to purposefully limit competition and jack up prices. Now that a couple of new upstarts are eating your lunch you want the government to come down and get rid of your competition once again. Too bad. Live by the sword, die by it.



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