Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Transportation

A Backhanded Defense of Las Vegas' Taxi Regulation 93

At Medium.com, Blake Ross takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the consumer protections that exist courtesy of the the Nevada Taxicab Authority, which (putting it mildly) seem to be rather more friendly to the existing taxi businesses in Las Vegas than they are to any disgruntled riders. By contrast with Uber (just booted from Las Vegas), Ross points out that the Taxicab Authority relies on antiquated complaint forms, random police checks, overlooked airport signs, and expensive tracking devices. Nonethess, says Ross, "I stand with Nevada and say—leave this to the pros."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

A Backhanded Defense of Las Vegas' Taxi Regulation

Comments Filter:
  • Monorail (Score:5, Insightful)

    by XanC ( 644172 ) on Thursday December 04, 2014 @01:03PM (#48524175)

    The Strip's monorail could trivially have extended to the airport, but that plan was nixed in order to preserve the taxis' revenue stream. What a crock.

    • Re:Monorail (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TWX ( 665546 ) on Thursday December 04, 2014 @01:09PM (#48524245)
      Doesn't matter much when the hotel shuttle will pick me up anyway.
    • Actually it'd have to go through the Tropicana, and/or swerve around several blocks because the side of the airport that faces the strip is the runways. Getting the monorail out there would be a clusterfuck to say the least.

      • by dgatwood ( 11270 ) on Thursday December 04, 2014 @02:25PM (#48524871) Homepage Journal

        Just make it high enough that the planes can go under it. :-D

      • by ncc74656 ( 45571 ) *

        Actually it'd have to go through the Tropicana, and/or swerve around several blocks because the side of the airport that faces the strip is the runways. Getting the monorail out there would be a clusterfuck to say the least.

        The part of Trop that passes north of the airport is mostly empty near the street, with the few businesses in there set well back. They could bring the monorail down to ground level (or even dig a trench for it) to keep from obstructing air traffic. Instead of bringing it down alongsi

    • Re:Monorail (Score:5, Interesting)

      by edawstwin ( 242027 ) on Thursday December 04, 2014 @01:15PM (#48524313)
      I go to Vegas quite a bit, and every taxi driver that I spoke with during the monorail era (when they were talking about or actually extending it) was for it going to the airport. They make more money the more time cabs are occupied, and just going back and forth between the strip and the airport meant waiting in one line or other a great deal of the time. It's much better to take one $50 fare in an hour than two $20 fares. I don't know if the various companies' bottom line would have been affected - probably so, but there would be more cabs available (and thus more revenue) from the strip hotels at peak times (some times it takes quite a while to get a cab) if the monorail extended to the airport.
      • I'd love to have the monorail extend to the airport. It wouldn't take much more track. Traffic volume on the monorail may be an issue though.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      Yes! I always thought the monorail would be perfect if it made it to the airport. It would increase hotel stays on the East side of the Strip by quite a bit too. They are the ones that need the help.

      I refuse to take taxis from the airport in Vegas. I instead take the free rental car shuttle, then walk to The Deuce. $2 for a ride anywhere on the strip beats a taxi unless you have 4 or 5 people with you. (I can also stop by Fry's Electronics for a few minutes)

    • Assuming the NCR would actually let anyone ride the monorail.

  • by halivar ( 535827 ) <bfelger@gmai l . com> on Thursday December 04, 2014 @01:03PM (#48524177)

    But it's got fuck-all to do with anything nerdy I can think of. Medium.com is covering this well. Let them handle it.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      I respectfully disagree. A technology focused approach to solving a broken, inefficient system absolutely falls under news for nerds.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 04, 2014 @01:07PM (#48524225)

    ...in the taxi market, which is why we have regulation today.

    And we've already seen how psychopathically Uber is willing to behave, for the avoidance of doubt.

    Yeah, the first hit's always cheap. Do Americans have history classes in school?

    • by TWX ( 665546 )
      Based on how Walmart is one of the biggest employers in the country despite their horrible labor practices, apparently they weren't paying attention in school.
    • by halivar ( 535827 ) <bfelger@gmai l . com> on Thursday December 04, 2014 @01:12PM (#48524271)

      Do Americans have history classes in school?

      Yes, I can see eager young minds salivating at the thought of learning more about the exciting history of taxi regulation in the US. Come on, man; nobody in the nerderati even knew about taxi regulations until we started talking about Uber. Everyone's an expert on whatever topic they Google about.

      • Come on, man; nobody in the nerderati even knew about taxi regulations until we started talking about Uber.

        Actually, anybody who knows anything about how labor unions -- and, in the case of Las Vegas, the spectre of organized crime syndicates -- use their political muscle to destroy free market competition knows pretty much whatever they need to know about this situation. Uber/Lyft represented a threat to the government-enforced near monopoly of the taxi market, using laws created by labor unions and pitched to politicians in concert with generous campaign contributions. Business as usual.

        • Your .sig says "I'd rather be free to choose, even if I make the wrong choices." Getting into a gypsy cab in NYC was the last choice some people made, back in the bad old days of the 1990s. Personally, before I put my life in the hands of a cab driver, I'd like to have some idea that the driver is licensed and the cab was inspected at some point. There's a difference between bringing new technology to improve an old market, and doing an end-run around all of the rules."Wouldn't soccer be so much better i
      • Well, libertarians knew about it.

        Oh. I guess that kinda proves your point.

    • by RyuuzakiTetsuya ( 195424 ) <taiki@co x . net> on Thursday December 04, 2014 @01:16PM (#48524325)

      Apparently not. But I am American, and I understand the problem here.

      What bothers me isn't the lack of an understanding of history but rather a lack of understanding about civics.

      Regulations can suck, but they don't -have- to.

      If the regulation sucks, reform the regulations. Don't throw a huge hissy fit and shit the bed out of spite.

      There's so much entitled Valley logic in the business model at Uber that it's hideously disturbing,

      (Not to mention the whole "let's get a PI on a journalist who didn't like us" thing)

      • There's so much entitled Valley logic in the business model at Uber that it's hideously disturbing,

        There may be that, I'm not 100% sure. However, it is very hard for me not to see all these complaints about "rider safety" and such as nothing more than "protect the taxi companies!".

        I've not heard of a single case of an Uber or Lyft ride going terribly wrong. Were there large numbers of cases of such they'd be out of business virtually overnight. If the taxi companies screw people over day after day you're going to do what about it? File a paper form that someone will promptly lose?

        • by Holi ( 250190 )

          Now you have.

          http://www.thedailybeast.com/a... [thedailybeast.com]

        • http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welc... [forbes.com]

          If a taxi company screws with me in New York I can get redress because our regulators aren't idiots.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by chaboud ( 231590 )

          http://valleywag.gawker.com/an... [gawker.com]

          There have been allegations of sexual assault and kidnapping, both of which aren't particularly good news. Uber's early responses were poor (e.g. not doing anything), but the most recent sexual assault has resulted in a suspended driver.

          I agree that taxi lobbying has been disturbingly effective over time, resulting in diminished service quality, high prices, and licensing conditions that favor taxi dispatch companies rather than taxi drivers. These artificially restricted

          • As someone who's on the opposite coast, Valley and San Francisco both are one and the same to me. So, oops.

            I'm also a fan of the ride sharing concept. When I flew out of Laguardia last week, I took an Uber from the Roosevelt Ave/Jackson Heights station to LGA and the process was smooth and simple(Also I had Uber credit so, might as well).

            I just don't like Uber as a company.

            Lyft seems like it's doing the right thing by complying with NYC taxi regulations though. So I'm going to have to look into that.

          • by TheSync ( 5291 )

            These days, when you hop into an Uber X, it's a less consistent experience. Sometimes it's a lost out-of-towner

            I find this in "normal" taxis in New York and Chicago. The drivers are asking me where things are. I'm thinking "do you know what a GPS is?" Then they don't take credit cards (or the credit card reader "isn't working") or they do so by rubbing a pencil on a piece of paper on top of your card and you see the charge a month later.

        • http://www.forbes.com/sites/go... [forbes.com]

          speaking of screwing up...

          Stupid forbes capture page.

        • by neilo_1701D ( 2765337 ) on Thursday December 04, 2014 @02:38PM (#48524969)

          I've not heard of a single case of an Uber or Lyft ride going terribly wrong.

          I guess it depends on your definition of "terribly wrong".

          Uber Suspends Driver Accused of Sexual Assault (http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Police-Make-Arrest-After-Woman-Accuses-Uber-Driver-of-Assault-268755481.html)

          Uber driver accused of hammer attack on S.F. rider (http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Uber-driver-accused-of-hammer-attack-on-San-5783495.php)

          Uber Driver Arrested For Allegedly Kidnapping California Woman (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/04/uber-driver-kidnapping-los-angeles_n_5442676.html)

          Florida Uber driver says he grabbed customer’s breast because she wasn’t wearing a bra (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/florida-uber-driver-grabs-female-passenger-breast-cops-article-1.1953167)

          And then there's The Ten Worst Uber Horror Stories (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/19/the-ten-worst-uber-horror-stories.html)

          • by Firethorn ( 177587 ) on Thursday December 04, 2014 @03:38PM (#48525421) Homepage Journal

            Well, taxis have their own horror stories, including at least one serial killer [wikipedia.org].

            Sexual assault is only a click away [nbcconnecticut.com] (googled "taxi driver assault" and skipped the advertisement)

            Grabbing the breasts is only ONE of the things this taxi driver did [seattlepi.com]...

            kidnap and rape [nbcmiami.com]

            But I understand your rebuttal of somebody saying they've never heard of a ride gone bad with Uber. Personally, I think the important part would be rate at which things go wrong(and horribly wrong).

            • by Richy_T ( 111409 )

              The important part is surely what do the regulations do to prevent negative experiences. We already have a form of regulation which are laws against these kind of things that lead to prosecution and jail sentences. Then one should consider that not all regulation is government regulation. Companies are apparently adjusting their rules to take account of concerns that people have. If they didn't, they'd lose customers to the competition that does and go out of business. Of course, if the government don't adj

              • The important part is surely what do the regulations do to prevent negative experiences.

                Indeed, regulations must be constantly examined to make sure they're still relevant and targeted at a real problem and are doing so in a cost-effective manner. By 'cost-effective' in this case I don't mean just direct costs - costs can be direct, indirect, imposed, compliance, etc... Even non-monetary in the form of violations to concepts like freedom and privacy.

          • by Livius ( 318358 )

            So, no convictions?

          • I think you'll find these kind of incidents also happen with regular cab drivers. Newspaper articles are often not a good source of data for these kind of stats.
      • Regulations can suck, but they don't -have- to.

        Like any tool, regulations can be abused. That's why We The People should be especially vigilant in allowing them to be established in the first place. As hard as I might try, I can't find anything in the federal and state Constitution that empowers the government to look out for me making shitty decisions. Therefore, the government has no business saying who can or cannot drive a taxi. If Uber gives shitty service, they will fail because the market will MAKE them fail. It's not the government's job to

        • Regulation of industry, particularly interstate industry is in the Constitution(Article 1, section 8). Furthermore, States have the right to further regulate industry in their own jurisdictions.

          Some of the taxicab regulations are protection rackets, but some of them are high barriers to entry for a reason. Namely things like public safety and accountability.

          Like I said, regulations don't have to suck.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        If the regulation sucks, reform the regulations. Don't throw a huge hissy fit and shit the bed out of spite.

        Like dumping tea in the harbor.

        You say "reform the regulations" as if the "two" party system in the USA actually represents our interests at all [amadorcountynews.org].

        So no, we won't just politely file our objections in the round bin, and we won't stop with our "hissy fit" any time soon.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by troll -1 ( 956834 )
        Isn't this simple? You have two people. A driver. A passenger. The driver wants to drive the passenger from A to B and the passenenger wants to pay the driver. What moral right does anyone have to prevent them from entering into their own contract? The state claims safety yet the state doesn't seem to care if I climb mountains which is statistically far riskier. We live in a bizzar kafkaesque disytopia when people are regulating just for the sake of having regulation jobs. Even if Uber is not safe isn't it
    • by Livius ( 318358 )

      Do Americans have history classes in school?

      History, propaganda, whatever...

    • by brunes69 ( 86786 )

      There is a big difference between what Uber and Lyft offer and what a free-for-all unregulated taxii industry of the past offers.

      On one hand, you have some large companies that can be held to account for wrong doing. You CAN allow Uber and Lyft to operate, AND regulate them, you know - it is not an "either-or" situation.

      On the other hand without any Uber or Lyft or regulation, you would have thousands of independent drivers with no ability to oversee them and no ability to hold them accountable in the aggre

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      ...in the taxi market, which is why we have regulation today.

      And we've already seen how psychopathically Uber is willing to behave, for the avoidance of doubt.

      Yeah, the first hit's always cheap. Do Americans have history classes in school?

      This.

      If the Americans have forgotten their history, just go to South East Asia.

      The highly regulated system in Bangkok and Singapore are cheap, plentiful and easy to use. The unregulated systems in places like Phuket are expensive and run by cartels.

  • by edawstwin ( 242027 ) on Thursday December 04, 2014 @01:22PM (#48524379)
    At certain times (generally Friday after rush hour to midnight and Saturday evenings/nights), it is faster and probably cheaper to take the highway to strip hotels on the west side of the strip (it's easier to get to the east side strip hotels going the back way). Anytime you cross (or God forbid have to travel on) the strip in traffic, it adds quite a bit of time/money to your journey. Some west side hotels are inconvenient from any route, though (Monte Carlo and Mirage, and to a slightly lesser extent, Caesar's, immediately come to mind).
  • by Anonymous Coward

    If you think the point of that article was to defend Nevada, you don't understand irony.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Another uber-sponsored piece. This law-breaking mega-corporation has no ethics, no standard and violation of laws and regulations (as well as tax evasion) comes natural to this 40 billion dollars monster.

  • by Virtucon ( 127420 ) on Thursday December 04, 2014 @01:58PM (#48524691)

    Sorry I travel 2 sometimes 3 times a month to Vegas and I have to say outside of NYC it's the biggest taxi racket out there. Because of the terminal locations, it's a guaranteed $10 sometimes $15 bucks before you even get to the Strip because of the circuitous routing and roads. One time I had a driver "miss" the airport exit and then had to argue with him over the extra $13 bucks on the meter because of his mistake. So now I rent cars when I go there and again, Vegas leads this category in stupidity. Hike to the Rental Car Shuttle Bus, ride for 10 minutes, more lines, more hassle and oh yeah nice "Franchise" fees on top of "Airport Taxes" to pile onto the car. Still, it's better than a taxi there.

    • Sorry I travel 2 sometimes 3 times a month to Vegas and I have to say outside of NYC it's the biggest taxi racket out there. Because of the terminal locations, it's a guaranteed $10 sometimes $15 bucks before you even get to the Strip because of the circuitous routing and roads. One time I had a driver "miss" the airport exit and then had to argue with him over the extra $13 bucks on the meter because of his mistake. So now I rent cars when I go there and again, Vegas leads this category in stupidity. Hike to the Rental Car Shuttle Bus, ride for 10 minutes, more lines, more hassle and oh yeah nice "Franchise" fees on top of "Airport Taxes" to pile onto the car. Still, it's better than a taxi there.

      If you go the non-highway route, it's pretty direct. There's not much "circuitous routing" at all. And compare the airport-to-where-most-people-go fares to other cities' fares - it's quite low. I'm not defending anyone trying to make your ride longer and charging for it, I'm just saying Las Vegas is one of the best cities in the country for cabs if everything's honest. Next time you get in a cab in non-peak times, say "Take Tropicana" if you're going to the South side of the strip, and say, "Take Swenson" i

      • by Richy_T ( 111409 )

        National. Book the car in advance and pick up the car from the Emerald Aisle with the key in the ignition. (Not affiliated, have just used them in the past. Of course, other people were paying)

  • by Anonymous Coward

    I love seeing journalists, regulatory experts, politicians, and taxicab companies ridiculed by opinionated unemployed programmers in widely-distributed unaccountable news sites. It's so dysruptive!

    Maybe tomorrow some taxi drivers can take over some chunks of the Firefox codebase. I mean, their opinion matters as much as the programmers, right?

    Or is it just entitled little bitches from the valley that get to tell the rest of us what we're doing wrong?

  • While I'm generally pro free-market, Vegas is a place where some regulation is good for the environment as a whole, and without it, there would be a tiny tragedy of the commons issue.

    Taxi regulations in Vegas require the drivers picking up passengers from taxi stands take all fares, no matter the distance. Because the walk from Bellagio to New York New York is complicated by City Center, it's a pain in the ass 20 minute one-mile hike up and down escalators and possibly into and out of the shops at the Cosm

    • by TheSync ( 5291 )

      Because the walk from Bellagio to New York New York is complicated by City Center, it's a pain in the ass 20 minute one-mile hike

      That is a failure of Bellagio, New York New York, and City Center, not of taxis. Next time, let your invisible hand direct you to a more walkable area like downtown Vegas.

      • It's hardly a failure of the design -- it's a critical part of the design of the "new" Las Vegas.

        When Vegas ditched the family friendly amusement park atmosphere of the 90's dissolved into 2004's "What Happens in Vegas" slogan, the new Vegas experience became radically different. No longer did you go see a magic act and white tigers before riding a roller-coaster with your kids... Now the experience is: Gamble, eat at a celebrity chef's restaurant for dinner, see a half-naked Cirque du Soleil, gamble som

  • by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Thursday December 04, 2014 @04:48PM (#48526033)

    Cab drivers in Vegas are supposed to use the shortest route to airport but will us the longer route to get extra bucks. If you call them on it they will cut the fare to the proper one rather than risk a confrontation and potentially losing their license (1). All I've had to do is when given the fare ask "Why did you use the longer route instead dog the proper one?" and I get an "Damn" look and the driver charges me properly. Conversely, if a driver uses the proper route I give a tip that covers the difference plus and thank him for doing so.

    Note 1: This was told to me by a LV cabbie

  • So, a Stanford educated computer scientist notes that the Nevada Taxicab Authority is corrupt in a gambling town created by mobsters? We didn't realize this until Uber was asked to leave? I've been to Vegas many times for both business and, um, pleasure (but not the kind you're thinking of). I remember that the taxis and shuttles were cash only and a mob operation based on the prices. My advice is to skip Las Vegas. Convince people that Las Vegas is not the place to go on vacation unless your name is Vinny
  • by volmtech ( 769154 ) on Friday December 05, 2014 @01:18PM (#48532255)
    Let's expand the medallion limited business model. Food stores, restaurants, clothing stores, plumbers, electricians, programers. Union hiring halls can do the same thing for common laborers. Consumers will be assured that everything they can afford to buy will be the best.

Keep up the good work! But please don't ask me to help.

Working...