These are interesting proposals by Mike. Here are a couple of
potential snags, though, that would have to be worked out:
>>>>> "MJ" == Mike Jensvold <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
MJ> Deregulate Taxis (at least partially). People shouldn't have
MJ> to pay $4 to go half a mile to the grocery store.
I think you would find that taxi regulation is responsible for
coverage as well as price support. In exchange for the city allowing
taxi companies to operate, the city forces the taxi companies to cover
neighborhoods that they would otherwise shun because they are
dangerous, and because they experience a lot of passengers skipping
out on the fare. As anyone who's read the Star-Tribune over the past
years will know, it can be very dangerous driving a cab in
Minneapolis.
One snag with deregulation is that it is very likely to strip these
neighborhoods of their cab service. OTOH, it might bring in "gypsy
cabs" that would be willing to take the risks attendant on serving
those regions.
The other snag is that a lot of the cabs I've ridden in ALREADY seem
plenty ill-maintained and dangerous (I have often felt the tell tale
vibrations of failing brake pads on rides home from the airport)! I
can't imagine this not getting worse with deregulation.
Unfortunately, buying cab service is not a place where the free market
will operate well: as a consumer, I just have no way of discriminating
betweeen cab service providers based on safety or service. I can't
build up enough information. I'd rather have them regulated for
safety and driver qualifications.
The market also operates poorly in the case of airport cabs, where
out-of-towners have no way to determine what is a reasonable fare for
a particular journey, nor can they solicit bids from multiple
suppliers. In a deregulated taxi system they would be likely to
experience erratic service, outrageously high fares, and possibly
assault and robbery.
My suggestion would be to try to fine-tune the current regulatory
scheme to get a better trade-off between consumer and supplier
interests, instead of junking it altogether.
MJ> Do away with school buses and integrate school transportation
MJ> into metro transit.
I think that Mike may well have identified a real problem here.
School bus operations must be hideously expensive for the schools, and
I'd be interested to know whether the Minneapolis Schools are able to
operate them efficiently. Anyone know how to find out what's the
average load on a Minneapolis school bus?
I'd be inclined to suggest reducing school choice and emphasizing
neighborhood schools over integration with Metro Transit, though. I
wait for small children on school buses (or used to, anyway, topic for
another message). The school bus driver must do things a normal bus
driver need not. For example, my daughter was 50 minutes late one day
when the school held all the buses to address a disciplinary
issue[1]. Something like this could wreak absolute havoc with the
city bus system. Another example: the bus driver should make sure
that kids cross the streets safely, and ideally, that very small kids
(high 5 program kids are only 4-5 years old) are met at the bus stop.
This can mean that getting through a bus stop takes a very long time.
Again, probably not acceptable for commuters. Finally, the bus driver
must handle disciplinary issues that could cause delay and annoyance
for commuters.
This idea might work better for high school kids than elementary
school ones, although my final point still applies...
Footnotes:
[1] This was actually the right thing for the school to do --- the school
has very good discipline, and I think that this is at least partly
because they react immediately, rather than waiting until problems get
out of hand.
--
Robert P. Goldman
ECCO
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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