Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis
This is a pretty surreal move:<p>&gt;The law says the money will help taxi businesses to adopt &quot;new technologies and advanced service, safety and operational capabilities&quot; and to support workforce development... [Larry Meister, manager of the Boston area&#x27;s Independent Taxi Operator&#x27;s Association] said the money could go toward improving a smartphone app his association has started using, or to other big needs.<p>I&#x27;m not an anti-regulation guy most of the time, but this doesn&#x27;t even seem like regulation -- they&#x27;re <i>literally giving money</i> to a fading industry because they are incapable of keeping up. I don&#x27;t want to see cab drivers turn into homeless drifters, but this just seems wrong.<p>Making a more efficient competitor pay to help taxi companies make their service better? The whole reason these companies exist is because taxi companies have been utter garbage for years and got the government to elbow out competitors. Am I missing something? Surely the burden for &quot;do things better and buy nicer equipment&quot; falls on the taxi companies, not the other organizations that are embarrassing them.