Expanding licenses is the way to solve flaws in the taxi service [China Daily]

Views in Hong Kong can change quickly. After years telling people outside Hong Kong howconvenient and affordable its taxis were, I returned to a fierce debate over whether our taxisoffer poor service and whether Uber can shake up a staid system. I wonder if thosecomplaining have tried getting a taxi in the United States or India recently.

Uber’s entry into a new city follows a clear pattern. Uber operates – not always entirely legally -in a city and builds a customer base. When it runs into regulatory trouble, its supporters arguethat current taxi services are monopolistic and inadequate – a problem that, coincidentally, canbe solved by allowing Uber to operate. Eventually, Uber’s significant and usually affluent customer base forces governments to change their policies.

This is an excerpt from an opinion piece published in China Daily on September 23rd, 2015. The full article can be accessed here.