This is an especially poignant story, and it's hard to not feel bad for this driver.
On the other hand, people face investment risk all the time, i.e. when franchising a restaurant. When Chipotle or whoever comes in and devours the fast food market, I wonder if the local struggling burger franchisee asks the city for help?
I can't speak on behalf of other cities, but anyone who has lived in SF pre-Uber has no shortage of nightmare stories from taking cabs. For people who had to wait years and pay enormous costs for their medallions, many taxi drivers acted smug, entitled, rude, and sometimes even downright shady. I know you can't say this about _every_ taxi driver, but there's no doubt that the current ecosystem treats the consumer many orders of magnitude better.
On the other hand, people face investment risk all the time, i.e. when franchising a restaurant. When Chipotle or whoever comes in and devours the fast food market, I wonder if the local struggling burger franchisee asks the city for help?
I can't speak on behalf of other cities, but anyone who has lived in SF pre-Uber has no shortage of nightmare stories from taking cabs. For people who had to wait years and pay enormous costs for their medallions, many taxi drivers acted smug, entitled, rude, and sometimes even downright shady. I know you can't say this about _every_ taxi driver, but there's no doubt that the current ecosystem treats the consumer many orders of magnitude better.