Don’t Enact a ‘Lazy’ Ride-Hailing Tax

There’s a transportation revolution now underway that will likely disrupt our cities as much as—or even more than—the widespread proliferation of personal cars that began in the 1920s. Back then, cities weren’t ready for the rise of automobiles; they were unable to act or waited too long to establish the kind of regulations and policies that could have mitigated the negative effects that car ownership unleashed on urban spaces. We can’t afford to do that for this new round of transportation disruption.

Ride-hailing services like Uber, Lyft, and Via are already changing the way we get around cities, and not always for the better. When autonomous vehicles arrive and driverless ride-hailing takes over, this new service—if left unchecked—could accelerate urban inequity, deepen the affordability crisis in central cities, and speed suburban sprawl.