Councilman Fabian Bedne says let the market determine number of Taxicabs!

Fabian Bedne

Appearing before the Metro Transportation Licensing Commission yesterday, Councilman Fabian Bedne said he would like to see the cap lifted on how many taxicabs could be licensed and let the market determine the number of cabs serving Davidson County. He says if people don't use a specific company or specific driver they won't have any customers and will go out of business. He states that the market works for most other things and we should let the market regulate the number of cabs.

This is a bold proposal!  I could not agree more. Metro government should no more determine how many taxicabs we have and who gets to operate a taxicab than it should determine how many coffee shops we can have.  We should no more limit the number cabs NashVegas can have than we limit the number of Starbucks coffee shops. 

Councilman Bedne is not known as a conservative member of the Council and probably does not consider himself a conservative, but that is probably the most free market position taken by a councilman since I was in the Council.

In the video below at time stamp 40:00 is Councilman Fabian Bedne statement.
 

In other action, at time stamp 37:19 Council member Davette Blalock urges the MTLC to not increase the amount of insurance taxi cabs must carry. She says this would be a hardship on cab drivers who are already struggling and the current amount is adequate. At 43:07 Councilman Scott Davis addresses the commission and also ask that new higher insurance requirements not be imposed.

In other parts of this video, the request for NashVegas to have more permits is discussed as well as other companies that want more permits. Several in the taxi business argue against any new permits being issued..

Top Stories