Re:Taxing Uber and Lyft rides is L.A's latest plan to free u...
by dragonwriter on Tuesday February 26, 2019 @06:54PM
(#19259587)
> Franchise fees also benefits the taxi companies.
In the presence of a substitute service not subject to them, they do not.
Actually, since there seems to be both a non-automatic approval process and a franchise fee, they don't really even without such competition; the approval process shields them from competition, the franchise fee is a pure cost. (Of course, there is a linkage between the two, but as long as the process is in place, incumbent taxi firms benefit from minimizing the fee.)
In the presence of a substitute service not subject to them, they do not.
Actually, since there seems to be both a non-automatic approval process and a franchise fee, they don't really even without such competition; the approval process shields them from competition, the franchise fee is a pure cost. (Of course, there is a linkage between the two, but as long as the process is in place, incumbent taxi firms benefit from minimizing the fee.)