From the BBC:

London black taxis plan congestion chaos to block Uber

“London black-cab drivers are planning to cause gridlock in the city to protest against car service Uber. The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association complains that Uber’s drivers are using a smartphone app to calculate fares despite it being illegal for private vehicles to be fitted with taximeters.”

Well, well, well, this reaction by London black-cab drivers to the emergence of Uber is about as surprising as finding a politician in a brothel.

The taxi market in London is a classic example of how special interest groups manifest a privileged position for themselves within a certain sector of the economy by lobbying government for favourable laws, regulations and legislation; and then do all they can to keep others out of the market they have put so much time and money into monopolizing. All this is to the detriment of society because the very forces that always drive costs down and raise quality over time, competition and innovation, are stifled or prevented.

Uber is providing more convenient, efficient and cheaper taxi services all through an app (which surely means running costs are very low compared to conventional taxi cab services) and has created a great way for people with cars to make a living or an additional income. That’s a beautiful thing and is obviously very much to the benefit of society. We should be applauding and supporting entrepreneurs like those who created Uber, and ostracising groups like the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, which is a group of people so corrupted and spoiled by the unjust privileges they have wallowed in all these years that the idea of Londoners having a choice of taxi providers has them stamping on their flat caps and threatening to cause “…severe chaos, congestion and confusion across the metropolis.” Why? Because that freedom of choice for Londoners means black cab drivers will have to start thinking about their customers again, and how they can do a better job of serving them – instead of how quickly they can get them out of their cab so they can clock-off for the afternoon to play a round of golf – and that sounds like effort. Screw that, says they. Let’s get the boot of government to stamp on the face of anyone who threatens our unjust stranglehold on the taxi service market.

Sign up to Uber, use it and tell others about it. If you’ve got a car and some spare time, then why not become a Uber driver. We mustn’t let the various taxi cab monopolies of the world’s major cities blackmail us into submission, enabling them to force Uber out of existence.

Stand up for Uber! Stand up for liberty!