One hour into a nationwide haulage strike set to paralyze Swedish trade, the Transport Union has called back truck drivers angered that employers would not agree on a structure for how temping agency drivers were used. … Read More
Swedish truckers set for strike over wages
Swedish Transport Union members are set to go on strike from noon Wednesday after wage talks crumbled, leaving employers warning the truck drivers of a lockout by Thursday. … Read More
Milwaukee Judge Slaps Down Taxi Protection Regs
Chalk up another victory in the Institute for
Justice’s fight against oppressive government regulations on small
businesses. Today’s winners were three Milwaukee cab drivers
fighting with the city over protectionist regulations for already
established businesses.
The Institute
announced:
In a resounding victory for economic liberty, today Judge Jane
Carroll of the Milwaukee Circuit Court struck down the city’s
taxicab law that outlawed competition in the taxi market. The law,
implemented by the city in 1991, caused the price of a taxi permit
to rise from $85 to over $150,000. Judge Carroll ruled from the
bench shortly after listening to arguments in a lawsuit brought by
three local taxi drivers and the Institute for Justice (IJ), the
national law firm for liberty.
“Thanks to today’s victory, the city’s 20-year taxi monopoly is
broken,” said IJ Attorney Anthony Sanders. IJ filed suit against
the city in September 2011 on behalf of three local taxi drivers.
“The court found that in 1991 the city purposely created an
unconstitutional taxi system where only the privileged few would
benefit and competition would be outlawed.”
Judge Carroll found that both of the arguments the city provided
for the law were illegitimate. The city argued that officials did
not want to hold an annual meeting on the issue of taxicabs. But
the judge ruled that public servants cannot write laws that simply
save themselves from the trouble of going to a meeting. The city
also argued that limited competition would make taxi owners more
professional. Judge Carroll rejected that argument as well, saying
that all the city did was provide a windfall for those who happened
to have cabs in 1991.
Follow this story and more at Reason 24/7.
If you have a story that would be of interest to Reason’s
readers please let us know by emailing the 24/7 crew at
24_7@reason.com, or tweet us stories at ;@reason247. … Read More
Reforming Boston’s Corrupt Taxi Cartel
Boston, like many cities, arbitrarily limits the number of
taxicabs on the streets via a medallion system. Lest the resulting
lack of competition tempt cab companies to overcharge passengers,
the city also imposes rigid price controls. This system has its
drawbacks.
According to Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, writing in the
Boston Globe:
The purpose of taxi regulation is simply to protect passengers
against being fleeced by unscrupulous cabbies, and to keep
passengers, bystanders, and the environment safe. Yet the system
instead has evolved mainly to enrich the holders of
government-issued taxi medallions, even as taxi drivers struggle to
earn a living and passengers pay some of the highest rates in the
country.
The Globe reports after a months-long
investigation of the industry that one fleet owner, who
controls a fifth of the city’s medallions, routinely cheats cab
drivers and skirts accident-insurance requirements. Last week,
long-time Boston Mayor Thomas Menino called for a review of the
city’s policies and floated the idea of creating a civilian review
board to mediate disputes between cabbies and medallion owners.
Glaeser proposes market-based reforms: replacing the medallion
system with an annual fee for whoever wants to drive a cab and
allowing cabbies to compete on price.
Back to the Globe:
Better regulation would base the fees on a hard estimate of the
burden each cab imposes on its surroundings. Just like other cars,
cabs create congestion, pollution, and safety risks for pedestrians
and other drivers; these and other problems associated with driving
amount to a social cost of 10 cents per mile, ;by one
estimate. So if Boston cabs travel an average of 60,000 miles
per year, the annual … fee should be about $6,000.
Cab companies should be allowed to post and advertise lower
rates—and then use electronic cab services, like Uber, to help
customers find cheaper cabs.
Currently, officials have determined that “public convenience
and necessity” dictates that there should be only 1,825 cab
medallions in Boston, though there are 6,000 licensed cab drivers
jostling for the opportunity to rent a car for 12 and 24-hour
shifts. According to the Globe, those medallions can fetch
$600,000.
In case you’re wondering, yes, established taxi businesses are
obstructing Uber in Boston too. Reason has covered
Uber’s regulatory travails in
Denver,
Chicago, and San
Francisco. … Read More
New GeForce WHQL driver boosts Bioshock: Infinite, Tomb Raider
Nvidia just published its WHQL-certified 314.22 GeForce drivers. Simply put, if your PC is armed with a GeForce graphics card and you've recently picked up either Tomb Raider or Bioshock: Infinite — you're going to want this update. … Read More
West Bank travel woes
http://www.youtube.com/v/fnMWeCuPunM?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Original post: West Bank travel woes
Spotify launches in-car collaboration with Volvo
Swedish music giant Spotify announced on Tuesday that it had launched its new in-car entertainment product for Volvo drivers with touch-enabled dashboards. … Read More
