Let market decide taxis vs. ride-sharing: #tellusatoday

Ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft have put pressure on traditional taxis. The value of a taxi medallion, a city-issued license to operate cabs, is dropping. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Cabbies are worried their industry will be hurt if the government doesn't intervene. That is like Blockbuster complaining you shouldn't use Netflix, Redbox and cable movie services even if they are cheaper, more convenient and more practical.

— Andrew Goldstein

It is outrageous to charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for a license to operate a taxi cab. Services such as Uber might need better regulation, but the cities should stop gouging taxi owners and make it easier for them to compete in ways that will benefit them and consumers.

— Fred Anderson

The taxi companies have shot themselves in the foot with outrageous fares and bad service. They created the opening for the competition. Now they want government protection from their errors.

— Daniel Allison

If taxis want to survive, they have to give a tangibly better experience to riders than Uber and other competitors, or fulfill a need that those competitors can't.

Trying to trumpet greater perceived safety and driver competence, in my opinion, is a weak strategy as things stand. That would require a strong propaganda campaign and purposeful downplay of negative incidents with taxis.

— Ron Geraci

If you allow competition, people will come up with a better way to do things. If you stifle competition, you get poor service and an inflated cost.

— Rob Lowery

Wise up. Driving a car is not such a rare and valuable skill. Medallions are a closed market and bad for consumers. Good riddance. No doubt it's tough for those who paid for them. Sorry, the gravy train ran out of track.

— Aki Bola

With rise of ride-sharing services like Uber, cabbies may be in trouble. We asked our Twitter followers: Should government intervene? Comments are edited for clarity and grammar:

Let Adam Smith's "invisible hand," his theory explaining free markets, do the job.

— @Shizuru_p

The government should deregulate cabs or regulate ride-shares to even the playing field. After that, may the best man win!

— @TaxiFareFinder

Why? Do we always think the government should get involved? Let nature take its course.

— @carolpitts

Uber offers better service, more conveniently, often for less. Let the market decide.

— @TweetlySaved

The cabs in my area are so terrible, someone on a bicycle could do better.

— @Mindcryme

The government should make sure that ride-sharing is safe and regulated with the same rules as all transportation companies.

— @UbersLilSecrets

For more discussions, follow @USATOpinion and #tellusatoday on Twitter.