The feeling I have this week maybe stirred only by my independent libertarian attitudes. It maybe because of the book I am reading now that I have become paranoid. Some books do that to you, you fear the evil portrayed in every shadow that crosses your path. Bumps, events, people that previously would have gone unrecognized, startle you as they hold eerie similarity to the events or people that brought danger in the last book you read. Today I still get chills in my spine when things remind me of the cloud of Mordor. I fear herds of spiders when I see more than one. This week I had one of those eerie moments, where the evil portrayed in fiction was right in front of me.
First a little back ground, living as I do in a rural area I don’t have access to city amenities. If you have read this blog before you know I pine for a Starbucks in my neighborhood. The idea that there is a Starbucks on every corner just isn’t true. The closest to me is over 50 miles away. There are city amenities that I have used, the L in Chicago, the Marta in Atlanta, Museums of Kansas City, Rockies Stadium in Denver, the Public library in Ulysses Ks. There are services in the big city that I have used, some public, some furnished by enterprising companies and individuals. .. but in all my travels, in all my big city visits, from New York to LA, Orlando to Chicago I have only ridden in a taxi cab a couple of times. Once was from the airport to the hotel after a very late arrival in Reno. Too tired to drive myself, I didn’t want to wait for the hotel van at 1 am and grabbed a taxi that happened to be standing just outside the door where I claimed my luggage. That taxi was a minivan and not a luxurious one at that. If I have ridden in a taxi any other time I don’t remember it. My point is I am not an expert on the taxi business nor do I have any particular interest in yellow cars. But, a recent news event caught my attention solely because of its foreboding eeriness.
UBER (uber.com) is in my words an upscale taxi service, they call it a limo service likely to avoid some regulations. UBER provides luxury cars with an appropriately dressed diver at a higher price than a regular taxi service. You request a UBER “limo” via a smart phone app which is not only convenient but will provide you with GPS updates for the anticipated arrival of your ride and the name of your driver. Their goal is to provide you with an upscale experience for which they can profit. UBER has been very successful in attracting customers. Recently in an effort to lower costs, attract more customers, and potentially lower fares UBER announced it would add alternate fueled vehicles as an option…
This week the city of Washington DC considered legislation to restrict UBER’s business in DC. Legislation proposed was partly the result of fear that UBER would compete for business and would be harmful to the taxi cab industry. Part of the new regulations would have required UBER to charge at least 5 times the taxi rates which are regulated by the city. A lower price, say twice the rate, seemed to be just unfair. In the end the measure did not pass. However it was merely postponed, maybe to a time when not so many are watching.
Quotes from the DC council meeting…
Councilman Marion Barry said “What this company is doing is having a big dent on DC taxi drivers… Barry again “How can you have a company that is unregulated?” Councilman Vincent Orange “Competition is good but fair competition is better…”. Barry said the taxi industry needs more regulation, while protesting that it took him over an hour to get a cab ride home from a conventional cab company.
This morning I bought a cup of coffee at McDonald’s (medium), it cost me $1. This weekend I will likely make a trip to one my favorite coffee shops and order a Venti Mocha extra hot, or its equivalent if I go to Spencer Browns. It will cost about $5.00. I’ll gladly pay the difference. I think it is worth it. However, if my councilman ever voted for a law that my favorite Starbucks drink had to cost 5 times the price of a McDonald’s cup of coffee, I’d never buy another McDonald’s cup of coffee and I know who I would not be voting for in the next election.
In a form of protest the next time I travel to the big city I want to take an UBER ride to Starbucks, better yet how about an UBER ride to the next Washington DC city council meeting!
John Galt
Francisco d’Anconia
Ragnar Danneskjold
David Gaddis
