Uber jacked up their rates sky high for new years eve, it was on local Houston news. Plus all the robberies and rapes committed by the Uber drivers. Might need a wee bit of regulation....
Let's see.. Some corrections..
Uber ensured that there would be more vehicles available on New Year's Eve by raising fares. Many people had the opportunity to get safely home rather than standing around for hours for a taxi.
I can't count the number of taxi drivers convicted of rape and robberies - pretty sure the percentage is well Uber's side for rider safety.
And regulation simply means giving the government a bigger cut of the pie; free markets are what results in your goals.
For example, you've the impression that using Uber increases your risk of rape and robbery - Uber is responding by doing more intensive background checks of all their drivers, something which very very few taxi companies even bother with.
Government is almost always the problem, not the solution. Government's solution in the case of Uber is either to tax it enough that it makes taxi cab drivers happy by eliminating the competition, or to regulate it out of existence, so that taxi cabs are happy. Neither goal serves the interest of the consumer.
Uber = Profiteering syndicate succeeding on the basis of peoples’ emotional needs simplistically being met by a lawless and irresponsible corporate entity because they’re all too damned lazy to change their own local taxi services...
...the conservative argument supporting Uber is specious.
Might need a wee bit of regulation....
Not all problems need govt regulations, at least that is the way conservatives used to look at things.
I have heard $300 fares in Austin TX after the SXSW (South by Southwest) music festival.
Houston’s “safe-tow” program (implemented by Mayor White) forced people to get into tow trucks when their car had a flat tire or other minor roadside emergency, even if you have your own tow service) and the program with rife with problems (including violent offenders driving the tow trucks).
So much for “background checks” in city programs.
So you would put trust in the government to make it right?
The "surge pricing" that Uber uses is actually a very innovative and capitalist way of ensuring supply for all the people who need rides. It gets more Uber drivers out on the road when they otherwise might have gone or stayed home.
A good analogy is the toilet paper situation in the Soviet Union. The price of toilet paper was "regulated" by the communists so that it would be cheap for everybody. This is the "wee bit of regulation" you call for.
Yet the Soviet Union was notoriously always short on toilet paper. Why was that? Because the price was kept so artificially low, makers of toilet paper were not motivated to ensure adequate supply. In a capitalist system, peak demand causes prices to rise which in turn causes suppliers to increase their output. This is the "invisible hand" that is often talked about in a capitalist system.