Originally Posted by tandempower

I think the solution is to license them locally according to odometer mileage accumulation. That way, you don't have to distinguish between actual ride-sharing, as you describe it, and people using 'ride-sharing' as a guise to make money as a taxi driver. You just allow anyone a certain number of miles as a taxi driver and then you start charging them a license fee if they put more miles on their vehicle.

The problem would be for rental cars and car-sharing. Ideally, someone leaving an airport or rental car location should have the option of carrying a passenger along their planned route for a fee-reduction. Presumably, no one would try to make a job of renting/sharing cars and using them as a taxi, since you'd have to pay more for the vehicle than you'd make on the faire. So, in the case of ride-sharing vehicle and rental cars, I don't think there should be a license fee to ride-share above a certain odometer increase, because many different drivers could all be using the same vehicle for ride-sharing.

I don't think it's smart to tax Uber too much since a potential consequence would be deterring ride-sharing apps/services from entering the market, which would result in a return to the traditional taxi model. Uber could play a role in managing license fees for drivers, though, and manage the fee by skimming off revenues as they come in instead of requiring drivers to pay large fees up front. I assume these taxes/fees would have to paid to local governments, though maybe the irs could be involved. I think Uber could offer the option to drivers of getting a salary and thus W2 or working as a franchisee/independent contractor and paying Uber a fee for its services while managing their own revenues as drivers independently. Ultimately, Uber is really not doing anything more than ebay+paypal, so it wouldn't be right to make everyone submit to corporate management to participate.

Still, I agree with you that there's a difference between true ride-sharing and taxi services. As I said, I think the solution is to allow a certain number of odometer mile increase per month or year and charge taxes/fees above that in order to allow anyone to drive for Uber without facing regulation/taxes until they exceed the mileage limit.

Ultimately I'm looking forward to reserving a zipcar and getting different price-quotes according to whether I'm willing to take one or more passengers along for all or part of the ride. That way, you could choose between driving alone and paying more or taking passenger(s) and paying less.