Chalk up yet another win for
those battlers for the right to engage in commerce, the Institute
for Justice (IJ). Last year a Milwaukee County circuit judge
ruled the city’s cap on the number of taxicabs allowed in the
city was unconstitutional. IJ represented several cab drivers
fighting the law, which, according to IJ, drove the price of taxi
permits from $85 to more than $150,000 on secondary markets (as in,
taxi companies hoarding the permits to control the drivers).
Today Milwaukee has finally fully responded to the ruling.
Previously, the city raised the cap by another 100 cabs. But today,
the city’s council voted unanimously to completely lift the cap on
the number of taxis, allowing anybody who is able to comply with
basic licensing, insurance, and safety requirements to drive a
cab.
“It used to be that because of the government-imposed cap, a
Milwaukee taxicab cost more than a house,” IJ Attorney Anthony
Sanders said in a press release. “Taxi entrepreneurs can now afford
to keep their house and open a business, too.”
IJ also notes that this change in taxi laws also gives Lyft and
Uber (and other ride-sharing services) a path to operate legally
within the city.
Read more about the case here.
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/1njnLPU
via IFTTT