Quote:
Originally Posted by 1overcosc
Airlines have seen service quality decline not because of cartels, but because consumers demand low prices at the expense of all else. They're just responding to customer demand.
With a deregulated system, anyone can enter the market and challenge the status quo. The free market is the most efficient system there is.
Uber can't really form a cartel, because the technology they created is ridiculously simple to implement and to copy. In the internet age anyone can organize a rideshare service. Without regulations protecting Uber specifically, this market will always remain free. We've seen this happen... technology ensures competition by reducing the barrier to entry.
Ultimately, we cannot, as a society, just shut down new ideas and loudly protect the status quo. We must always move forward and progress. Ride sharing is dirt simple nowadays with the internet age... the traditional taxicab model is becoming an anachronism and we can't stop it no matter how hard we try.
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As someone who works in IT, I disagree with you on the bolded part. As technology becomes more sophisticated and complex, the bigger the barrier to entry becomes. It isn't simple to copy and implement. That is the great simplification of how we don't fully understand how software works. Presto was a perfect example of how creating simplicity can be so complex. Also, timing becomes all important. An idea has to come out at the right time and be designed the right way and on the right platform and be marketed the right way and have the right investors. I expect there is competition but who would know? Uber is the only name we hear about and the only one that is successful. So we talk about local taxi companies being cartels. Well, what is a business that is killing the taxi industry worldwide in no time? Competition is great, but the real goal of business is destroy the competition and create a monopoly. If there is not a level playing field, that is exactly what could happen. As it stands, Uber is not following the same rules as the taxi industry. Whether the rules are valid is another story and something that Toronto City Council is trying to resolve.
Meanwhile, the airlines find other ways to get more cash out of us and offer less and less service. Not because the public demands this, but because the very limited competition makes it easy for one company to follow another like sheep. That is also the reason why the cell phone industry works the way it does. Give choice, but don't really give choice.