Comment Re:Efficient allocation of capital (Score 2) 230
>Does it really? Or does it make using a taxi service a better value so that the usage of taxis overall grows? Do we really want to subsidize a jobs program for taxi drivers or is there a better way to employ those resources? While there is some clear disruption going on it's not at all clear that that is a bad thing.
This is a problem. I mentioned this elsewhere that everyone's thinking about the taxis vs Uber problem, but nobody is thinking about the bigger issue coming down the road: Self driving cars. When those hit the streets there are going to be some enterprising companies that run fleets of self driving taxis, and more importantly a lot of the car cooperatives/collectives will have their own stocks of on-demand vehicles that people pay per-use instead of owning. By 2030 if not sooner, there aren't going to BE any taxi drivers. Or Uber drivers. And a lot less truck drivers, and delivery drivers, etc. There will be thousands of jobs in each city permanently gone. Something has to be done to plan for that.