ON THE WATER
NEELS BLOM: Regulation, not Uber, is the enemy of metered taxi sector
‘Taxi regulation as it stands is a state-sanctioned instrument of collusion, designating areas and rates’
The rapid rise of Uber in SA is an object lesson on how a market-
driven economy operates, and how it will eventually play out despite overregulation, ignorance and violent opposition.
Uber certainly has disrupted the hailed-taxi market. It is, in the first and most important instance, more affordable than traditional metered taxis. As a result, it has increased the size of the market; people who would otherwise not have considered using public transport now happily hail a ride.
It means, theoretically at least, that the traditional metered taxi operators also stand to benefit. Moreover, Uber has a rating system that compels a customer to comment on the state of the vehicle and the behaviour of the driver. If the service is not up to scratch, Uber management knows instantly and the driver faces the consequences. This customer-oriented system is streaks ahead of the substandard experience the traditional taxi companies offer with their skorokoros. However, the traditional taxi operators do have a point. They are regulated to charge a minimum fee and have to confine their operations to designated areas, unlike Uber operators, who are free to operate wherever they want and to undercut traditional taxis by as much as they like. This is what a free market means and, in a free market, Uber drivers have the advantage.What the traditional taxi operators want is for the government to regulate Uber operators in the same way, presumably based on the assumption that op...
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