1. Commercial licenses for drivers.
2. Minimum number of cars on the road
3. Vehicle inspections
4. Insurance requirements.
5. Minimum wage for drivers
6. Minimum number of handicap accessible vehicles.
7. Requirement to pick up anyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
8. Set rate fares
9. Background checks
10. Accountability for drivers' actions (Uber just throws their hands in the air and says "they are a contractor I have no control" while taxi companies get fined)
11. Governance by a taxi board who decides on fines for poor service.
1. Commercial licenses are a farce that makes no sense. You're either capable of driving and operating a business, or you're not. If you are, what's the point of obtaining yet another piece of paper at yet another cost when all the benefits are covered by other laws. If they aren't covered by other laws, that says more about your legal system than the license.
2. Makes sense. Supply and demand doesn't work well in taxi services.
3. I don't operate a taxi and yet am subjected to yearly inspections. If you aren't in your state, why not? You sound like you may have dangerous vehicles on the road.
4. I have a vehicle that is registered and therefor have complete 3rd party liability insurance. What kind of strange state do you live in where there are drivers on the road which don't have insurance?
5. That is covered under any business law already. How does uber manage to get around this?
6. This I actually agree with, except that a handicapped person can never get a taxi by just hailing one. In many regards they would be better served with a dedicated company handling their service requirements.
7. They don't have anti-discrimination laws where you live? You can refuse to serve black people in your business? Wow!
8. Not going to start this one because I've heard valid reasoning on both sides.
9. Again what part of this helps where other laws don't? Do you have people so dangerous on the street they aren't allowed to conduct a business? If so why are they on the street?
10. hahahahahahah yeah right. Taxi drivers are universally considered the worst drivers on the road in every country I've been to and the company's don't do shit. Ok this is an extreme example given I'm in China right now but the taxis here also have a number, and a complaints line, and that did nothing to stop my driver mounding the median strip to avoid a speed camera.
11. Why have a separate board for taxis? Why not have a business ombudsman?
There's no arguing your principles have merits, but I don't believe that most of them are part of some magical rules of operating a taxi. Many of the things you list should be part of any kind of business, the disputes processes and the governing laws should be part of any business, and a taxi company even one like Uber is still a business.
You should have laws in place to cover all of what you suggest. None of those laws should be specific to taxi drivers.