Hey, you're supposed to be doing the World Cup right now. We're 20 minutes in.

One more nail in the cabbie coffin: these eejits complain about app-based drivers, then don't even carry change for a $20. Or for a $10. Saturday night in Belltown, fare was $22. "Sorry, no change," says the driver, who fumbles around and eventually extracts three wadded up singles from a crease in the front seat.

@1
Fnarf, Just give us the play-by-play in this thread. Don't wait for Mommy Slog to approve your suggestion. Besides, Ansel is a chill dude, I've seen pics of him, the floppy hair clothes professional look. Overthrowing the thread isn't as dangerous and threatening as the riots and protests The Stranger LOVES to write about. Or ignore me, who gives a fuck.

If Uber/Lyft drivers have to actually go through the same legal process (months of tests and heaps of fees) and pay the same monthly insurance as taxis ($600/month insurance) it will be self-limiting. But they never will have to do these things, because Uber's powerful lawyers (paid from the millions invested by Goldman Sachs and Google) can not only crush the disorganized taxi industry, but also rewrite the city laws for their benefit.
Way to go! Now we'll have a Walmart of urban transportation instead of a bunch of independent owner-operated businesses called taxi cabs.

Good job seattle for standing up for 17 billion dollor company, who doesn't give a damm about their own drivers, hypocrites talk about $15 minimum wage. Bunch of sold out people to uber, including Stranger.

"For-hire drivers would have hailing rights"

uh, so what does a taxi license (medallion) even mean now?

@7,
it means that the 195 of 200 owners of city for-hire licenses now get to compete like taxis, without the requirement of a city-mandated rate structure or wheelchair accessible vehicle requirements. If you hail a "for hire" and aren't paying attention, they may try to charge you whatever they want.

http://clerk.seattle.gov/~public/meeting…

mass transit in the third world is cheaper and way better in the 3rd world than in the first world, including Europe and Japan. buses/vans in C. America, Morocco and Mexico r frequent, with diverse routes and stoppage formats - even in lil pueblitos. 3rd world mass transit also employs way more people than 1st world mass transit does. labor is cheaper in the third world, (though with 10%+ unemployment, u'd expect unit costs to fall here, too, w/o statutes) but credit, vehicles and gas r cheaper here

I have always wondered y mass transit is so good in countries where relatively few social institutions work gracefully. removal of supply restrictions seems like a good start.

@13 Since many people can't afford cars those economies would collapse without a good public transportation system. Also low wages and a high tolerance for horrific accidents helps. I ride on those often and have been lucky. Last time I road one of these, one of the riders had a full 5 gallon plastic gas can. Nobody else seemed to care. When you pack 20 people into an old, under-maintained minivan and drive on congested, poorly maintained roads accidents will happen.

The only way Yellow cab can win a fight is if they have no competitors. Hence the attempt to legislate/litigate Uber out of existence.

Is it really that impossible for Yellow Cab/etc to make even the most marginal improvements in quality?

@15 Joeshmo2, the cab companies also defend caps on taxis. this is the same thing

@14 imo our roads r better maintained than 3rd world roads, and our capacity for vehicle quality control regulations is better. obv we wouldn't want helter skelter liberalization, but the point remains that the transport is cheap and dynamic (as u know better than most, apparently)