Peter Schorsch
While watching the Florida Legislature debate regulation of services like Uber and Lyft statewide, I couldn’t help but think of a pair of quotes discovered as I was looking up something else.
The first quote, from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, came as the House displayed leadership and vision in approving its version of a bill that could finally end local squabbles over transportation network services.
“Never before in history has innovation offered the promise of so much to so many in so short a time,” Gates says.
To me, that’s Uber and Lyft: promise and innovation.
On the other hand, when the Senate weighed in, another, more discouraging quote came to mind – from as unlikely a source as gossip blogger Perez Hilton.
“Ignoring it won’t deny its existence,” he says. “It will just delay it!”
“But better to plan and conquer than wait and wither!” Perez warns.
Perez’s words spoke to me of the Senate’s stubborn resistance to a technological future, opting to stay stuck in the past.
It’s no secret in Tallahassee that Senate President Andy Gardiner is partial to the traditional taxi industry, particularly in his own backyard of tourist-rich Orlando. And it is the equally common knowledge that the taxi industry sees modern ridesharing services as a very real threat to its antiquated business model.
Nevertheless, with Gardiner’s Senate appearing so stubbornly opposed to a fresh new business model – one tremendously popular with the public – it seems to fly in the face of conservative Republican ideals, which place so much faith in the power of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Back in August, I wrote about this conflict:
“It’s about protecting an entrenched industry, the taxi companies, which have donated enough campaign cash to Florida politicians to delay the inevitable. But what these transportation companies don’t understand is that most ride-sharing customers don’t want the taxicabs’ product. … Lyft and Uber aren’t taking business away from the taxicabs as much as they are creating an entirely new economy.”
Six months later, it is shameful that we’re still stuck in the exact same place. And that brings up one more quote, this from the late, great Yogi Berra.
“It’s deja vu all over agin.”
The House sits squarely on the side of innovation; while the Senate, obstructing the path of change, does the bidding of old-school companies.
It is a sad situation, more than just campaign contributions and political connections. Or, at least, I’d like to think it is.
But the longer this continues, the more I am convinced that is precisely what is happening.
And you can quote me on that.
One comment
D. Churba
February 27, 2016 at 9:08 am
Safety before savings. All drivers who work for transportation companies must be interviewed and finger printed with backround checks and fully insured to protect the the riding public. Otherwise you have the wild west.
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