DC City Council

Regulation of the Day 187: Pedicabs

by Ryan Young on July 26, 2011

in Mobility, Nanny State, Regulation, Regulation of the Day

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Pedicabs are the 21st century version of the rickshaw. A two-seat carriage is attached to a bicycle, and the driver will pick up customers and take them where they want to go. They’re especially popular around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Many of the drivers are cycling enthusiasts who get to make a little extra money and meet friendly people while getting some exercise.

The city has traditionally treated pedicabs with a light regulatory touch. At least until recently. The D.C. Council now wants to require pedicab passengers to wear seatbelts.

That’s not all. Pedicabs will be required to have standardized braking system, no doubt to the delight of at least one lucky brake manufacturer. When cars are present, pedicabs will also be required to stick to the lane closest to the curb. This is legislating common sense.

The D.C. Council is expected to pass the legislation this fall.

Regulation of the Day 94: Plastic Shopping Bags

by Ryan Young on January 4, 2010 · 3 comments

in Deregulate to Stimulate, Features, Nanny State, Regulation, Regulation of the Day, Zeitgeist

Retailers have traditionally provided free shopping bags to their customers as a courtesy. Washington, DC’s city government – known for being less than courteous – is now requiring stores to charge customers five cents for each plastic bag they use at checkout.

The tax is environmentally motivated. Since the city is acting so urgently on shopping bags, that implies that they must be the most urgent environmental threat facing DC. If that’s the case, then DC must be a veritable ecological paradise, or else its priorities are misplaced. One or the other must be true.

There were 84 unsolved murders in DC in 2009, by the way.

In lieu of plastic bags, the city is urging people to buy reusable cloth bags. But those have an environmental footprint nearly 100 times larger than a plastic bag, according to Sierra Club data. They have to be used many, many times before they cause any savings. They are also a haven for bacteria if not regularly washed. And washing them adds to their footprint.

Washington, DC has a lot of problems. Expensive but inferior schools, crime, violence, high taxes and spending – the list is long. The epidemic of plastic bags littering the streets is right at the bottom of that list. It should be prioritized accordingly. The regressive plastic bag tax should be repealed.

Gypsy Cabs Coming soon to DC?

by Ivan Osorio on September 23, 2009 · 2 comments

in Deregulate to Stimulate, Economy, Mobility, Regulation

If you’ve ever been to Brooklyn, you’ve almost certainly seen firsthand the shortage of taxis that has been created by New York City’s licensing restrictions, known as the “medallion” system. Under this system, only a limited number of licensed cabs are allowed to run in the city. You’ve probably also seen how the locals get around these restrictions: through the use of unlicensed taxis, known as “gypsy” cabs, and car services, which are technically limo services which you have to call for pickup.

I’ve used car services and have found them a good solution for getting around Brooklyn quickly, but having to call for a car and wait for it is nowhere near as fast or convenient as simply flagging down a passing taxi. Gypsy cabs face a competitive disadvantage in that they have to operate more discreetly than do licensed cabs, which can pick up passengers at high-traffic points like hotels, airports, and train stations. This all makes a New York taxicab medallion highly desirable, but acquiring use of one can be extremely expensive.

Taxicab medallion restrictions result in artificially high entry costs for new drivers and lower quality service for passengers. Yet, two District of Columbia city council members, Jim Graham and Muriel Bowser, are trying to impose a similar system in the nation’s capital. The idiocy of such a proposal almost defies belief. The only sensible explanation for it would be that cab drivers who face less competition would support medallion proponents. But yesterday, the cabbies said, “No, thanks.” The Washington Post reports:

About 1,000 taxi drivers went on strike Tuesday in response to a D.C. Council bill aimed at establishing a taxi medallion system or a taxi vehicle certificate system, organizers said. If passed, cabdrivers fear, the bill could substantially increase the cost of operating a taxi in the District.

And for what? The Washington Examiner reports:

“The problem we’re facing right now is the increasing number of people trying to enter this system,” said D.C. Councilman Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, who chairs the Public Works and Transportation Committee.

I’ve long been accustomed to hear politicians utter economically illiterate statements, but to describe supply arising to meet demand for a service as a “problem” is astounding even by that sorry standard. As Reason‘s Ron Bailey comments:

Just exactly why would DC residents want to have fewer taxis? If more drivers are entering the market doesn’t that suggest strongly that supply has not yet equalled demand?

That’s a good question; I’d like to hear Graham’s and Bowser’s answers. The costs of their proposed scheme would be huge indeed. According to the Examiner:

Medallions in some major cities cost tens of thousands of dollars, and can be auctioned off for hundreds of thousands if there’s a limit on the number of cab drivers in the area. Because of the moratorium on the number of cabs in New York City, medallions there sell for more than half of a million dollars.

In fact, New York taxi medallion are so valuable, that, as CEI’s Eli Lehrer has pointed out, they are often used as collateral for loans. Leave it government to give value to something that should be completely unnecessary.