Canadian Protectionism: Vancouver Taxi Association Wants To Keep Consumer Prices as Expensive as possible, files new lawsuit against Passenger Transportation Board – January 27, 2019,
So, to start it should be noted that India is the most populous democracy in the world if you’re a huge supporter of mob rule or special privileges for particular groups of people, consider moving to India. I’ve personally been privileged enough to meet some smart people from India.
If you’re wondering why India is poor, the main reason is Democracy, a lot of the smart people in India are suppressed by not so smart people who band together to make sure the government caters to their needs first. Economic protectionism can work for a period of time in a developed country, but it’s very destructive to a third world nation.
Protectionism in a third world nation is like crabs in a bucket, in Canada Protectionism has similar effects, however, we’re currently bordered with America and the main reason there’s any poverty in Canada is because of price and wage control-related policies that push prices in Canada up and ward off the possibility of any competition in most sectors of the Canadian economy.
Uber and Lyft are a threat to the Taxi monopoly, now taxi drivers will obviously take the position of ‘victimhood’ because they paid all of these government fees and put themselves into debt for the privilege of being a taxi driver, while this Uber APP undermines the taxi industries artificially created reasons to force prices up for their passengers. I have to pay for this permit and that permit just to be a taxi driver, while Uber drivers don’t have to do any of that the cab drivers will argue.
The Vancouver Taxi Association is all about Price Controls are is there more to this?
Well yeah, duh, it’s a ride SHARING APPLICATION, why can’t I use my own car for whatever reason I want? Oh I know why because the Vancouver Taxi Association is claiming ownership of what I can do with my property on the streets of Vancouver that’s why. But again I’m sharing my vehicle? Can’t I share my vehicle with whomever I want? The excuse Taxi companies used to make for more regulations were safety-related concerns, well if you know anything about Uber, you can throw that out of the window, because the provincial government is the entity that grants drivers licenses anyway. So if the government is arguing that a person can’t share their car for cash, that in actuality opens up a whole new can of worms.
If I share my ride and collect cash for it, and you make that illegal, you essentially saying that I can’t share my property because the government works for the Vancouver Taxi Association. Sure we can play semantics and use technicalities, but if the Vancouver Taxi Association wins, basically not only does your car not belong to you, it doesn’t belong to the government either, your car is essentially the property of the Vancouver Taxi Association wh will decide the manner in which you can share your car.
This has always been the problem with merging “democracy and socialism” eventually monopolies emerge as special interest groups wrestle power from the hands of the Government. Yes, the people voted for this, but your government has decided that this monopoly, in particular, is for the good of the workers and therefore it’s in the best interests of the public to subsidize are a particular industry that would be threatened with extinction in the event they were forced to compete in the Free market.
Vancouver Taxi Association = Price Controls?
Basically the Vancouver Taxi Association should be viewed in the same manner as the Police department! Actually it’s far worse, because of a security guard is a notch below a cop, while in the case of the Vancouver Taxi Association Uber and Lyft can’t even become a second-tier service to taxi cabs, what the taxi cabs wants is to make sure they can force Uber and Lyft to adjust their pricing to meet that of the Vancouver Taxi Associations pricing models.
Cheaper prices are the real reason why, the Vancouver Taxi Association and its members want to make sure they don’t have to compete with ride-sharing APPs, the reality is until there’s a demand for Taxis again they should be a niche product. However, based on their recent protest, it appears the Taxicab industry in Vancouver wants to make it clear that they don’t want to be a niche.
It should be noted that most of the laws that exist to regulate the taxicab industry were created by the taxicab industry! At the time when they wrote those laws, they never imagined that a Ride-Sharing APP would be created. If you read most of the regulations the taxi industry created for themselves to justify price hikes on consumers, you’ll then see why Uber and Lyft is such a problem in Vancouver! Greed is a b*tch!
Vancouver taxis ask Supreme Court of B.C. to quash ride-hailing rules | CBC
Interesting times ahead!