Uber and Lyft Shut Down in Pennsylvania; Thousands of Citizens’ Lives Made Worse

Every day, thousands of people have a pleasant and useful
experience using smartphone-app ride-hailing services such as Uber
and Lyft, and many drivers are able to make a living providing a
useful service.

Alas, nearly every day, some bunch of petty jerks in local or
state government try to do something to prevent those pleasant and
useful experiences from happening, as readers of Hit and Run know
all too well.

The latest such foolishness, out of Pennsylvania,
reported by Pittsburgh Business Times:

Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. have been issued a
cease-and-desist order and must immediately stop operations in
Pittsburgh.

In an order granted Tuesday, Judges Mary
D. Long and Jeffrey
A. Watson said the companies cannot operate until they
secure the appropriate authority from the Pennsylvania Public
Utility Commissio….no stay-of-order will be permitted while
the matter is being reviewed by the commission.

The judges know they are being officious jackasses and making
life worse, amazingly:

“We are not blind or deaf to the public opinion, at least in the
Pittsburgh area, that the transportation needs of many individuals
are not adequately met by currently certificated carriers. Nor are
we unmindful of the potential benefits of the service proposed by
Lyft,” they write. “…Therefore, it may seem to some that our
order here is contrary to the public interest in the ability of
individuals to secure transportation in a timely manner.”

It does seem that way, and it totally is!

Still, the judges maintain that a sophisticated system of
realtime user satisfaction ratings is not sufficient to ensure, you
know, the public safety. Only receiving a certificate from
a state board of bureaucrats can do that. No one with a certificate
can ever get in an accident or harm their passenger in any way,
apparently.

Reason
on Uber and Lyft.