Greg makes great arguments here, and he's not the only one who has been making these comments. Indeed, the level of rhetoric in our burgeoning class warfare is escalating rapidly; "technocrats" is my new favorite label.
But I question the TNCs strategy of approaching this long-term. It appears the strategy was simply to try and go the popular-opinion route. Of course the market has spoken, and it prefers Uber & Lyft by a huge margin over the traditional taxi market. However, in dealing with regulatory matters, political dealings are a necessary cost of doing business.
Instead, the TNCs did a few things wrong: 1) they jumped into the process a bit too late, 2) they took an antagonistic, condescending tone with the powers-that-be, and 2) they under-estimated the power of old-fashioned lobbying by the taxi industry.
Principles of market openness, disgust with the political climate, etc. don't really matter in light of moving ahead. Now, the Seattle market is likely stalled for a lengthy amount of time. And, future markets know they'll be able to extract a pound of flesh as the TNCs look to expand.
I hate the outcome and think the City Council deserves to be revoked, but the TNCs needed to do a much better job in handling this situation.
But I question the TNCs strategy of approaching this long-term. It appears the strategy was simply to try and go the popular-opinion route. Of course the market has spoken, and it prefers Uber & Lyft by a huge margin over the traditional taxi market. However, in dealing with regulatory matters, political dealings are a necessary cost of doing business.
Instead, the TNCs did a few things wrong: 1) they jumped into the process a bit too late, 2) they took an antagonistic, condescending tone with the powers-that-be, and 2) they under-estimated the power of old-fashioned lobbying by the taxi industry.
Principles of market openness, disgust with the political climate, etc. don't really matter in light of moving ahead. Now, the Seattle market is likely stalled for a lengthy amount of time. And, future markets know they'll be able to extract a pound of flesh as the TNCs look to expand.
I hate the outcome and think the City Council deserves to be revoked, but the TNCs needed to do a much better job in handling this situation.