CHICAGO (October 8, 2015) – Some Chicago taxi drivers went on strike today to protest Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to allow drivers from ride­-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft to pick up passengers at the city’s airports. Experts from the Illinois Policy Institute and Liberty Justice Center are available to comment on the strike and why limiting Uber and Lyft would be a disservice to Chicagoans.

Experts available:
Ted Dabrowski, vice president of policy and expert on Chicago budget
Jacob Huebert, senior attorney at Liberty Justice Center and expert on cronyism, deregulation and competitive public policies

Key points from Dabrowski and Huebert:

• These taxi drivers are striking because they oppose competition. They want to keep doing business the same way they always have, even though the people of Chicago have shown overwhelmingly that they love and want services like Uber and Lyft.

• People want ride­-sharing services because they’re cheaper, often better and because you often have to wait in line a long time to get a taxi at the airport. If ride­-sharing services are good for the rest of the city; they’re good for the airports.

• The striking cab drivers aren’t serving the interests of most taxi drivers because Chicago’s old taxi­-medallion system doesn’t serve the interests of most drivers; it actually harms them and benefits cab companies and investors who own the taxi medallions. Getting rid of that system – opening up free competition for both ride­-sharing and taxis – would be good cab drivers who wouldn’t have to pay exorbitant rents for taxi medallions anymore.

• The taxi strike isn’t likely to help taxi drivers much because most taxi drivers aren’t part of a union. It makes no sense for a taxi driver to lose a day’s pay over this. If some drivers are striking, that’s just an incentive for other drivers to get out there and make more money. And it’s an incentive for customers to just hail an Uber or Lyft instead.