> * Price reliability: Prices in most taxi systems follow strict rules. Customers can use this knowledge to estimate what they will spend, and drivers what they can earn.
Don't Uber give you an estimation? I took a taxi a single time in my life, I can tell you, I had no idea how expensive it would be (and it was) and it took me multiple call and about 45 minutes before getting inside the taxi. I still have no idea how to estimate the price, I'm still not interested in taking a taxi after all that.
> * Service dependability: Because medallions are limited and prices are regulated, taxi drivers can make a living, and the service does not boom/bust. This means customers are not gouged in good times and unable to find taxis in bad times.
This is something that I never liked and I don't understands how people can be for that. What purpose does it make to have a unique price when you can't even get it at that price. I will sell you a new amazing smartphone for 1$, the best price of the world and I will never change it's price, but I only have 100 of them and I don't plan to make more. It's great for the one that get it but at the end of the day, if you really need it and you can't even get it, it's amazing price won't help.
> * Non-discrimination: Taxis are usually required to respond to all hails, and to not refuse service because your ride is too short/long.
I can't see how you can believe that.
> * Driver tracking: because a taxi driver must have a medallion and follow rules about posting information in/on their cabs, passengers can distinguish between 'taxis' and random people offering ride services. While there may be no built-in reputation system, there is incentive and recourse. How do passengers know if a non-taxi is a guy who makes his living from offering rides, or a guy who just stole a car and is going to rob them? A taxi driver is risking a lot by robbing his passenger.
That's depends of the service. If people require it, if it stop people from taking that service because they are afraid of it, then the offering will change.
With a monopoly it doesn't, it stay the same, it doesn't have to change, I still have no idea what's the price, I have no easy way to make sure I will really get one fast enough. I'm a potential market but they don't freaking care about me. At least, with competition the market can affect how it work, they have an impact on it. If we need more taxi during rush hour, it's possible, if we need less, it's possible, if we need more security, it's possible.
If there's still enough people interested in your monopoly taxi system, they will keep using your monopoly taxi system and it will survive but we both know it's not the case and currently it's subsidized by people who have no other option than taking that crappy service.
Don't Uber give you an estimation? I took a taxi a single time in my life, I can tell you, I had no idea how expensive it would be (and it was) and it took me multiple call and about 45 minutes before getting inside the taxi. I still have no idea how to estimate the price, I'm still not interested in taking a taxi after all that.
> * Service dependability: Because medallions are limited and prices are regulated, taxi drivers can make a living, and the service does not boom/bust. This means customers are not gouged in good times and unable to find taxis in bad times.
This is something that I never liked and I don't understands how people can be for that. What purpose does it make to have a unique price when you can't even get it at that price. I will sell you a new amazing smartphone for 1$, the best price of the world and I will never change it's price, but I only have 100 of them and I don't plan to make more. It's great for the one that get it but at the end of the day, if you really need it and you can't even get it, it's amazing price won't help.
> * Non-discrimination: Taxis are usually required to respond to all hails, and to not refuse service because your ride is too short/long.
I can't see how you can believe that.
> * Driver tracking: because a taxi driver must have a medallion and follow rules about posting information in/on their cabs, passengers can distinguish between 'taxis' and random people offering ride services. While there may be no built-in reputation system, there is incentive and recourse. How do passengers know if a non-taxi is a guy who makes his living from offering rides, or a guy who just stole a car and is going to rob them? A taxi driver is risking a lot by robbing his passenger.
That's depends of the service. If people require it, if it stop people from taking that service because they are afraid of it, then the offering will change.
With a monopoly it doesn't, it stay the same, it doesn't have to change, I still have no idea what's the price, I have no easy way to make sure I will really get one fast enough. I'm a potential market but they don't freaking care about me. At least, with competition the market can affect how it work, they have an impact on it. If we need more taxi during rush hour, it's possible, if we need less, it's possible, if we need more security, it's possible.
If there's still enough people interested in your monopoly taxi system, they will keep using your monopoly taxi system and it will survive but we both know it's not the case and currently it's subsidized by people who have no other option than taking that crappy service.