Well, reports are the good citizens of Austin Texas rejected the "we're special" six million dollar propaganda, uh, er, advertising campaign by Uber and Lyft and voted down special rules governing the non-taxi, sorta like a taxi services.

Uber and Lyft, like pretty much every other ground transportation provider, have experienced some widely documented nefarious activity by a few of their drivers. Their advertised knights in shining armor image has been somewhat diminished. That aside, they got good press throughout but failed to win over the public.

I would speculate that threatening to leave Austin if the vote didn't go their way wasn't as good a public relations position as their egos told them it would be. Oops. Now Austin is down as the largest city in the country that's Uber free.

I'm not an advertising genius, nor a driver recruiter, but it seems to me that they kind of over reacted by not agreeing to having their drivers' fingerprint background checked. When you consider just the legal fees associated with getting sued over a driver's conduct, it seems that refusing fingerprint background checks would make such cases even harder to defend.

Uber has been successful getting the fingerprint check waived at other locals by putting political pressure on regulators. They seem to have met their match this time. We shall see.

Every now and then I hear things that simply amaze me. Taxicab drivers are routinely stabbed, shot, beaten, robbed and abused in various other ways and the DC taxicab regulators have decided to install panic buttons for the passengers. Huh?

In an effort to cover the ludicrousness of their asinine invention, DC Taxicab Commission Chairman Ernest Chrappah is reported to have said "we want to make sure that when you get into a licensed taxicab in the District of Columbia, you have an excellent riding experience." Now if having your taxicab surrounded by a SWAT team is "an excellent riding experience" he may be on to something.

In Chrappah's defense he didn't dream up the plan, but he's left to defend the plan, regardless of how irrational it sounds. Predictably, the button pushes have all been accidental, false alarms and unintentional.

Now, let's analyze the numbers here. There are an estimated 16 million taxicab fares per year in the district. Reportedly, there have been 55 accusations of assault by taxicab drivers since 2011. Now, if we just did the math on 4 years since the report, 2011 (55 accusations), that would leave us with 55 accusations for 64 million trips.

I'm not a statistician, but I'm pretty sure that percentage is well beyond microscopic. Panic buttons for drivers were ineffective and panic buttons for passengers don't even measure up to being ineffective. However, like all good government ideas, we will pursue this folly until it works, no matter how much of other people's money we have to spend doing it. Can't get enough good government? No wonder Uber doesn't want to follow the taxicab regulations.

Well, reports are that Ron Blount of Philadelphia said there will be no taxicab driver's strike during the Democrat National Convention. However, Ali Razak of the Philadelphia Limousine Association is reported to have commented that Ron doesn't speak for the limousine drivers.

Ali said the boycott would include about 500 Uber Black drivers and a "few hundred taxicab drivers." Ron said the numbers were inflated. While they disagree on tactics for how to deal with the city allowing UberX and Lyft to operate without regulations, both groups want regulation on their competition.

It's an interesting phenomenon when the regulated turn to the regulator to get more regulations. It appears that taxicab and limousine companies all over the country are looking to regulators to save them from the evil empire, Uber. Meanwhile the evil empire appears to have hit a snag here and there with governments resisting them and not caving to their every demand.

Could it be that cities are starting to realize that they are losing control of their ground transportation? In this day and age where the president is so deeply involved in our personal lives that he's deciding which toilets we should use, it's hard for me to believe that cities are going to just roll over for the Uber/Lyft bully and give up regulating transportation services. Perhaps, a review of what battles are worth fighting is in order for the Uber bully management? Perhaps not.

A Broome county New York taxicab company operator has been dramatically accused of illegally obtaining $80,000 from Medicaid! In a sensational expose of the vile deed, WBNG's scoop of the heinous deed reported that the evil doer, Darin Cox, was accused of grand larceny in defrauding Medicaid of the money.

The grandstanding Attorney General of New York, Eric Schneiderman, is reported to have said "when Medicaid is defrauded by greedy business owners, hardworking New Yorkers who rely on the program pay the price." Uh, hard working Medicaid users? Well, okay, but the article didn't say that the good AG accused the evil dirt bag business owner of not providing the service, but just of not having the proper license to provide the service.

Oh, you mean like Uber? Uh, yeah. So, let me see if I understand what all this really is. Some small time taxicab operator didn't have all the licensing he needed and now they're throwing the book at him? Maybe the story isn't supplying all the facts, but it looks to me like an overzealous AG with a God complex is crushing some small business with the full weight and force of the government which in New York is quite substantial.

Maybe Cox is a heinous felon with evil intent, or maybe he's just got some contract somebody's brother in law wants. Hard to tell from the article. No doubt when Eric runs for governor his valiant crusade against Medicaid fraud will be right at the top of his resume.

Reports out of Chicago are that there are proposals to alter the way Uber drivers are licensed. Uber isn't pleased with the potential changes. It does seem to indicate that there are those who are concerned with the idea that Uber provides essentially the same services as taxicabs but without the same driver scrutiny or responsibility.

One article lamented the loss of handicapped service if the taxicab industry failed. One comment I found particularly astonishing was the concern shown by the author that the taxicab industry might be taken down by regulation. Ya think? The taxicab industry in Chicago, hell everywhere, has borne the weight of excessive regulation to the point of stunting the growth and innovation of the industry.

Uber is a classic example of technology and minimal regulation providing service and opportunity.Rather than figuring out how to regulate it out of existence how about we try to figure out what regulations are absolutely necessary and reduce all providers to that level?

I don't know of anyone who doesn't understand that regulation costs money, often to no real gain. How often do taxicab drivers test positive for tuberculosis? How often do they fail the physical examination? If it is important enough for taxicab drivers to be subjected to it Uber drivers should also be subjected to it.

Is it the business of the government to decide who survives and who dies based on regulation? If not then all drivers should be treated the same. If a company is unwilling or unable to comply they can do what companies have done for centuries, go out of business.

I recently read a very curious article from Boston. It seems that there is a company considering opening a taxicab company that is exclusively women drivers serving women and children only. Chariot for Women was set to open last month but has yet to kick off due to excessive response from women wanting to drive. Very interesting.

I can't imagine how exactly they are going to get away with selecting drivers by gender, especially when gender seems to be a variable to be determined at the time of consideration. Suppose I self identify as a woman, can I drive? If not will the president mandate that I be allowed to drive? If I self identify as a woman will I be able to ride? Will I be required to shave my legs? How is it determined that someone is a woman anyway? This is all just too confusing.

It's being reported that the city of New York is having a problem selling their $3,000 "green cab" medallions due to Uber and Lyft. Gee, who could have seen that coming? It seems the low price medallions aren't nearly as popular as the previous mayor had imagined since the Uber/Lyft invasion.

Along with green cab medallions Uber is making life miserable for a bank or two. Reports are that Signature Bank shares have lost 4.7% of their value while Medallion Financial has dropped enough to prompt them to stop using "taxi" as their stock market symbol. Further north in Boston there have been calls to do away with the medallion system. Big cities can no longer depend on the taxi medallion as a source of revenue.

Twenty odd years ago New York City mandated those plastic surgeon endorsed plastic shields in the back seat of taxicabs. Since that time, very few yellow cab drivers have been abused at the level of other cities that did not mandate the plastic face planting device. While the nose breakers aren't popular with most of the drivers I've talked to, they do seem to deter some of the lesser assaults that are common in unshielded taxicabs.

Whenever you hear of a driver in New York City being assaulted, robbed or killed, it is almost always a non yellow taxi. Plastic shields work!

Imagine then how surprised I was to learn that the Taxicab and Limousine Commission is proposing to make the shields optional. The vehicle owners will have an option to install a camera or plastic shield. Why you might ask? Well some on the TLC believe that the driver will be able to have a conversation with the customers and make them better able to compete with Uber.

What? Isn't this the same group that was worried about mandating English to ruin the opportunities for newest New Yorkers? Well, taxicab drivers are going to have a choice between a shield and a camera.

Will Uber drivers be compelled to choose between a shield and a camera? Probably not. There have been a handful of events with Uber drivers and if I were one I believe I might want a camera. I mean hey, if your teenage daughter was going to use your Uber car to go to the movies with her friends wouldn't it be enlightening to have an audio/video recording of the event to glance over? My kids are quite fortunate that none of this was available when I was raising them.

If you have any comments regarding this or any of my articles please feel free to contact me at don@mcacres.com.

—dmc