Sounds like these fine folks are bored and just passing shiat to pass it.

What the actual f*ck?

Taxi business is extremely territorial. I used to drive a taxi in Braintree, a town south of Boston. We were only allowed to pick up fares in Braintree. One exception was picking people up at the airport in Boston to return to Braintree.

The rules were specific. You had to pick them up at Departures, or in a specific parking lot, depending on which airline they were coming from. I took a wrong turn and found my way into the Boston taxi area and no less than five cabbies jumped out of their cab yelling at me ready to break my windshield. I quickly explained I had taken a wrong turn, I wasn't there to steal anybody's money and high-tailed it out of there.

What the living hell?

cman: Sounds like these fine folks are getting kickbacks from the taxi companies bored and just passing shiat to pass it.

Yup.

Ah, capitalism at its finest.

Not all that uncommon. In NYC, black cars licensed by the Taxi and Limo Commission are not allowed to accept street hails in Manhattan. It's part of the bone he city throws the yellow cab companies. Luckily, they still do accept street hails but they can be fined for it if caught.

A Dark Evil Omen: Ah, capitalism regulation at its finest.

skullkrusher: Not all that uncommon. In NYC, black cars licensed by the Taxi and Limo Commission are not allowed to accept street hails in Manhattan. It's part of the bone he city throws the yellow cab companies. Luckily, they still do accept street hails but they can be fined for it if caught.

That's racist.

skullkrusher: Not all that uncommon. In NYC, black cars licensed by the Taxi and Limo Commission are not allowed to accept street hails in Manhattan. It's part of the bone he city throws the yellow cab companies. Luckily, they still do accept street hails but they can be fined for it if caught.

I think DC (or maybe just the VA airports?) has some stupid laws like that, too. I'm fairly certain Chicago does.

City life means cabs. Cabs mean competition for riders. Loss of ridership often means make-or-break for the cabbies. I can see WHY they want to make laws protecting cabbies, but I don't see HOW these laws help.

TheSelphie: $50 MINIMUM for non-taxi livery rides? What the farking fark?

It makes it harder for a limo or other livery driver (who just got stiffed on a fare, for example) from picking up street fares to make a bit of extra coin, thus hurting the other taxi drivers who were "supposed" to get that fare.

Cabbies are notoriously protective of their unique place to pick up strangers from the roadside and drive them to their desired destination. I'm not certain, but I think hitchhiking laws were also passed partly as a favor to cabbies (as well as "Think of the teenagers!!" hysteria).

Satanic_Hamster: skullkrusher: Not all that uncommon. In NYC, blackAfrican-American cars licensed by the Taxi and Limo Commission are not allowed to accept street hails in Manhattan. It's part of the bone he city throws the yellow Asian cab companies. Luckily, they still do accept street hails but they can be fined for it if caught.

That's racist.

my apologies

Catsaregreen: I find it very interesting that many of the articles greenlit/greenlighted for the Fark Politics Tab have appeared much early on the Drudge Report -- including this one.

/just an observation

Yeah, it's weird how Fark greenlights current popular news stories.

Glicky: I was tripping balls with some girl and we were coming out of a Butthole Surfers show when we were asked by a black car if we wanted a ride. Six bucks to get us home from Civic Center.

I love illegal livery services. And the old guys at the supermarket who would drive us and our groceries home for five dollars.

/CSB

good thing it worked out. Getting raped, tortured and murdered while tripping would have been awful.

FarkedOver: A Dark Evil Omen: Ah, capitalism at its finest.

I'm surprised no one has come in to defend capitalism and say b b but crony capitalism, as if they are separate things. Ahhh crony capitalism a new buzzword for the masses to slurp up! YUM!

A) people have corrected his stupid and B) they are two different things.

LOL capitalism == crony capitalism! Let's replace it with socialism because the best way to end government corruption in the economy is to increase government involvement in the economy!

FarkedOver: A Dark Evil Omen: Ah, capitalism at its finest.

I'm surprised no one has come in to defend capitalism and say b b but crony capitalism, as if they are separate things. Ahhh crony capitalism a new buzzword for the masses to slurp up! YUM!

I'm just not sure how negative consequence from government interference in the market is a slight to the free market.

But have fun

FarkedOver: skullkrusher: Let's replace it with socialism because the best way to end government corruption along with private sector corruption in the economy is to increase government involvement in the economy!

Fixed that for you. Capitalism is always corrupt. It's the nature of the game. I know you're a smart guy, and I know you know there's more to socialism than just that.

point is that crony capitalism exists because people are corrupt and looking out for their own self interests. Replacing the system with one that features FAR more involvement between government and business is not going to change that.

skullkrusher: Not all that uncommon. In NYC, black cars licensed by the Taxi and Limo Commission are not allowed to accept street hails in Manhattan. It's part of the bone he city throws the yellow cab companies. Luckily, they still do accept street hails but they can be fined for it if caught.

I can see the rationale for that. You could wind up with random Lincolns abducting people.

Mandatory pricing and wait times, like those mentioned in the article, are a different story.

meanmutton: Umm... I'm not sure what your point is, but this is just a nice, clear-cut example of the harm that government interference in the free market can cause to consumers.

More like a nice, clear-cut example of the harm that business interference in the government can cause to consumers.

Unless you think somehow the government was doing this on their own, and wasn't lobbied to hell and back by taxi companies.