The fight against Uber’s ridesharing service, Uber-X, is getting ugly, with Victoria’s Taxi Services Commission (TSC), headed by former ACCC head, Graeme Samuel, taking legal action against 12 Uber-X drivers in Melbourne yesterday.
As shown in the above video extract from ABC’s 7.30 Report, former ACCC head Samuel ironically seems intent on crushing competition against the rent-seeking taxi industry: a move that spells bad news for customers and drivers alike, who would effectively be left paying exorbitant fares to taxi licence plate owners.
We should not forget that the only reason why Uber-X is popular at all is because it offers better service than the incumbent taxi and hire car industry at lower prices. Seriously, take a look at the clean Uber-X drivers (and cars) in the above video, and compare them against the grubby taxi drivers shown, and decide who you would rather travel with?
If someone wants to save money and use Uber-X, and the driver is licenced and has the requisite insurance, then why should government policy seek to stop it?
As I keep arguing, the net result from allowing Uber-X (and ridesharing services more generally) should be more reliable and more affordable transport options for consumers, a more efficient utilisation of the transport fleet, and better pay for drivers currently caught in taxi licence holders’ monopolist net.
Ultimately, if an idea is a good one – and Uber’s most certainly is – it won’t just quietly disappear. Technology will eventually win the day, just as the invention of the personal motor car won the battle against the horse-and-cart and railway industries, which also lobbied governments to erect all kinds of barriers aimed at preventing their operation.
Put simply, taxi licence restrictions are a hangover from Australia’s protectionist past and have no justification in a modern economy.
