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posted by janrinok on Monday August 22 2016, @04:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the taking-a-cut dept.

Republican Governor Charlie Baker signed the nickel fee into law this month as part of a sweeping package of regulations for the industry.

Ride services are not enthusiastic about the fee. "I don't think we should be in the business of subsidizing potential competitors," said Kirill Evdakov, the chief executive of Fasten, a ride service that launched in Boston last year and also operates in Austin, Texas.

Some taxi owners wanted the law to go further, perhaps banning the start-up competitors unless they meet the requirements taxis do, such as regular vehicle inspection by the police.

"They've been breaking the laws that are on the books, that we've been following for many years," said Larry Meister, manager of the Boston area's Independent Taxi Operator's Association.

The law levies a 20-cent fee in all, with 5 cents for taxis, 10 cents going to cities and towns and the final 5 cents designated for a state transportation fund.

The fee may raise millions of dollars a year because Lyft and Uber alone have a combined 2.5 million rides per month in Massachusetts.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 22 2016, @08:34PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 22 2016, @08:34PM (#391872)

    We don't get to murder our rivals or steal their women without consequence anymore either.

    Murdering someone would directly infringe upon their rights. This is totally different from infringing upon people's rights to decrease the probability of some bad event happening.

    As for 'stealing' women, you don't own women and they can make their own choices. Unless you meant taking them captive against their will, it doesn't make any sense.

  • (Score: 1) by Francis on Monday August 22 2016, @10:41PM

    by Francis (5544) on Monday August 22 2016, @10:41PM (#391906)

    It's a related problem. We gave up a number of rights as part of the social contract. There's not much difference between banning murder and banning practices that are likely to result in death. Dead is dead and whether it's negligence or malice only matters for punishment; the deceased is equally dead either way.

    And yes, that's exactly what I meant by stealing women, that's another right that we gave up as a matter of civility. It was a way of handling society that was deeply problematic for everybody involved.

    People try to play this sort of thing off as a case of having done the homework and assessed the risk, but without the regulations in place there's no way of knowing what the risk even is. One unlicensed cab might be fine whereas another might be driven by a rapist and another by a team of kidnappers. That's not exactly unheard of in parts of the world where unlicensed taxis are common. more likely is a cabbie that uses a broken meter or none at all and insists upon being paid several times as much as what the fare is worth.