It actually does seem like a decent first draft.
I'm sort of baffled why someone like Yellow Cab doesn't just put out an app.
Not disallowed just have to show your app is measuring properly.
With all the crazy laws surrounding taxis and liveries, I wouldn't be surprised if an app like that is illegal in some municipalities.
It is not clear to me that Uber is a huge problem for anybody but an industry being disrupted yet, and that is not only not a crime, it's a feature of the system. (Feel free to correct me in replies, if you like; this is not a permanent state of mind. It really is not clear to me right now that Uber is a significant danger to anyone but existing taxi companies. I've heard a couple of anecdotes, but so far the taxi industry is well able to keep up with "anecdotes" of how they do bad things too, so calling it a "wash" would probably be doing the current incumbents a pretty big favor....)
I actually almost hope this passes?
From the Wikipedia entry on Guilds: As Ogilvie (2004) shows, the guilds negatively affected quality, skills, and innovation. Through what economists now call "rent-seeking" they imposed deadweight losses on the economy. Ogilvie says they generated no demonstrable positive externalities and notes that industry began to flourish only after the guilds faded away. Guilds persisted over the centuries because they redistributed resources to politically powerful merchants. On the other hand, Ogilvie agrees, guilds created "social capital" of shared norms, common information, mutual sanctions, and collective political action. This social capital benefited guild members, even as it hurt outsiders.
The heyday of guilds lasted from around 1200 to 1700...
As in, where does it stop or where do we begin? Florist? Movers? Hairstylist? Nail care? Plumber?
Taxi services aren't regulated for the sake of limiting competition. They are given a monopoly in return for agreeing to be regulated as quasi-extensions of cities' transportation infrastructures.
It's not about restricting competition, it's about very real concerns that are addressed by specific licensing regimes for each such industry. Tort law and market competition are useless, alone or together, in regulating low-entry-cost industries with high potential externalities. Licensing imposes capital requirements which make tort law and market competition feasible, along with guaranteeing certain other benefits to customers that increase the potential market of the industry.
Subject (large text): "Explore NJ this weekend with FREE uberX rides"
Body (small text): "NJLOVESuberX covers rides beginning OR ending in New Jersey, up to $20. Believe us – at these rates, $20 will get you far."
Fine print (tiny text): "Please note that there is a $20 surcharge for trips between New Jersey and NYC."
