Your argument ("fewer laws can lead to reduced choice as the premium product is competed out of existence") is that Uber will result in fewer accessible cars, drivers who will take longer to get you to your destination, and drivers who have no incentive to stay on the straight-and-narrow?
The first two are pretty spurious, I think. Accessible cars will always remain, and I suspect - and this is from some experience - that those who need them usually call for cars rather than hailing a black cab. In regard to "teh noledge" - I believe that black cab drivers do know more after their training. What is the argument here, though? Is it that this translate into significantly quicker trips? Black cabs have more incentive to be slow than minicabs/uber as they charge by distance/time. Minicab drivers have an incentive to be quick as they charge by journey. Do you have evidence that the group which doesn't have the incentive to be quick is generally quicker than the group that doesn't?
That last is the weird one. So we need government incentives to keep a particular class/group of people on the straight-and-narrow through artificially high-wages, or else they'll...?
Is it possible that other regulations may be capable of preventing this group from becoming whatever it is you are insinuating they will become?
I believe in the necessity (and often positive benefits) of government regulations. I believe drivers of any type of hire car need to be licensed in a way that ensures they are going to be safe drivers. I don't believe we need black cabs to do this.
Your argument ("fewer laws can lead to reduced choice as the premium product is competed out of existence") is that Uber will result in fewer accessible cars, drivers who will take longer to get you to your destination, and drivers who have no incentive to stay on the straight-and-narrow?
The first two are pretty spurious, I think. Accessible cars will always remain, and I suspect - and this is from some experience - that those who need them usually call for cars rather than hailing a black cab. In regard to "teh noledge" - I believe that black cab drivers do know more after their training. What is the argument here, though? Is it that this translate into significantly quicker trips? Black cabs have more incentive to be slow than minicabs/uber as they charge by distance/time. Minicab drivers have an incentive to be quick as they charge by journey. Do you have evidence that the group which doesn't have the incentive to be quick is generally quicker than the group that doesn't?
That last is the weird one. So we need government incentives to keep a particular class/group of people on the straight-and-narrow through artificially high-wages, or else they'll...?
Is it possible that other regulations may be capable of preventing this group from becoming whatever it is you are insinuating they will become?
I believe in the necessity (and often positive benefits) of government regulations. I believe drivers of any type of hire car need to be licensed in a way that ensures they are going to be safe drivers. I don't believe we need black cabs to do this.