Cambridge cabbies go on strike; shut down one side of Mass. Ave. Bridge

the law is vague on people using their own cars to transport people for money. The insurance industry is less vague: don't do it if you have a personal policy. You will not be covered by them if they find out you were driving for money if you don't have commercial insurance and aren't registered with the state as both a livery company and have livery plates.

California is starting to experiment with hybrid polices that cover you as commercial when you're on the Uber clock but not here.No way.

The way Uber Black works is you have livery plates, a luxury black auto, commercial insurance and Massport permitting. UberX drivers that have registered corporations and livery plates can pick up at Logan if they register also. No special license is required by the state to drive livery and UberX drivers are the guys in Camrys and Accords.

This will all be moot when two things happen: Uber drivers are declared employees and they have to raise rates to pay living wages and the IRS putting the kibosh on their keeping their drivers on 1099 when they see how many of them aren't paying their taxes.

The politicians and aide themselves on Beacon Hill use Uber/Lyft because they can't/won't increase funding to the MBTA, and they all know how terrible taxi service is. Same with many of the large corporations paying taxes to the city / state from the innovation district to MGH, and west.

Apparently either Edward Tutunjian hasn't been doing his due diligence in campaign contributions / lobbying, or he's just too toxic now that he's been / is involved in multiple investigations.

Hmm...wanna know why I don't take cabs?

Not particularly, no.

We have Travis Kalanick, an egomaniac that treats his contractors like crap but offers an awesome service.

Or we have Edward Tutunjian, a psychopath who treats his renters like crap and offers a terrible service.

Take your pick, the iceman does. I don't weep for private transportation kingpins, just get me from A to B without the bullshit.

With Uber and Lyft now here?

How do I short this market?

Rip out the idiotic and insulting video screens in the passenger compartment. Sorry, but we're already subjected to enough pointless advertising shilling crappy products - we don't need even more of it when we're trying to get from place to place.

They pulled out of the Boston market last year. I believe they're still operating in the UK.

But yes, your basic point is correct. The cabbies aren't willing to be hailed in the way their 21st century customers want to hail them, someone else is. Guess who wins?

Uber only started in London about a week ago.

My guess is that certain fees help pay for the hackney division (your mileage may vary on how useful they are). Other fees go directly to the increased usage of the roadways/pollution/etc. that commercial vehicles sustain during a day versus private vehicles. Other fees cover the administration of their registration and fee payment. Even if some of it ends up in a general coffer, I'm betting people don't care that a livery pays an extra $5/yr if it means they can save $0.50 in personal taxes instead to have the same general budget for the government.

Of course, if your complaint for UberX and other livery drivers is that their fees are too high and create an unreasonable barrier to entry, then there's a legislative solution for that too. However, I doubt the cost of being a private livery is what drives cab drivers to being cab drivers nor what prevents UberX drivers from acting within the law.

because of idiotic and outdated FAA rules that limit what they can spend the extortion payments airport "use" fees they charge the airlines. That's also the reason that the parking rates at Logan keep going up.

Technology in a car isn't going to solve anything particularly. You still have the problem of too many low-capacity vehicles on the road.

UberX/Lyft/etc. aren't "ride shares". Ride shares are where you write on Craigslist that you want to go to NYC for the weekend and cross your fingers that the person who picks you up isn't a mass murderer. UberX is just an illegal livery driver. They're not sharing a ride. They weren't going to where you live and then driving to where you need to go until you paid them for the ride. That's a livery vehicle.

Do YOU tip "ride share drivers", J. C.?