DC Makes It Official That Uber Is Legit
from the about-time dept
Despite some earlier legal battles, it appears that the Washington DC council has made it official that Uber should be fully legal to operate in the city, providing easy rides for hire via your mobile phone. Uber, of course, has run into problems with local regulatory boards across the country (though it frequently, and mostly successfully, turns those conflicts into marketing opportunities). Still, it's nice to see DC figure out a way to make it clear that Uber is absolutely legal there. Apparently the company had to agree to one "concession": to make sure that it really is serving all parts of the city, they had to build into the app a notice to report any discrimination. Seems reasonable enough. While I actually think Uber execs kind of enjoy butting heads with local officials, and rallying the legions of Uber fans behind the cause, I think they'd also agree that, in the long run, it's better for everyone to just have the damned service (which is pretty cool, honestly) be considered legal.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: dc, limos, regulations, taxis
Companies: uber
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
"discrimination"
Individuals should not be forced to do business with other individuals against their will due to the subjective whims of bureaucrats via anti-discrimination laws/regulations.
If a business discriminates that just opens up an area for a competitor to meet the market needs of the individuals who are being discriminated against, while negatively impacting the market of the business that engages in discrimination.
Incentives work beautifully when government force/coercion is not inserted into the lives of individuals engaging in voluntary exchange.
Complex social issues cannot be solved through force/coercion, it only makes things worse in the long run.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]