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Comment by gpm | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand why "cabs" is an allowed exception here.

Cabs are like cars, except more expensive, and they drive around without anyone using them for transport looking for business. Why are they superior?

I'm picking on this example not because I think that list is meant to be complete or perfectly thought out, but because cabs often seem to get exceptions like this (e.g. in HOV lanes) and I really don't understand why. It basically seems like a "I'm rich enough to pay someone to do my driving for me" exception.

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NYC cabs are cars only because that's the environment they operate in. Think of what a cab would look like in a busy carfree city. Disneyland makes an okay example for North Americans. There's no need to go to the considerable expense of an entire passenger car that's built for worst case freeway scenarios in a carfree city core. Imagine a cab where crumple zones and a three-digit top speed are useless.

You can get rid of parking for cabs/uber/lyft. The amount of real estate taken up by parking in NYC is insane.

Cabs could be highly useful for various emergencies or more generally for people in need of urgent singular transport.

Ambulances cover the medically injured. Buses cover normal strictly time regimented use.

A simple scenario: my son has been injured at home and I need to immediately get home or to the hospital. The bus may take far too long depending. That's an example of an urgent need for singular transport.

Would you be happier if your taxi wasn't stuck in traffic? I have an inkling that 99% of cars on Manhattan are not urgent emergency

And, they are often the worst drivers in any city.

That's really false. They are professional drivers, it's much safer to bike around them as opposed to regular people who don't understand how NYC streets work.

Cabs are an alternate form of public transit where you pay a lot more per km, especially in cities where the city sets the prices and the number of cabs. There are lots of valid reasons for using cabs over city buses/trains, such as minor medical problems, bad weather, unsafe conditions at night, etc.

Of course, once cabs are available, people will use them for convenience rather than the valid reasons. I don't have a solution for this, but I think the valid reasons are strong enough that cabs should be allowed in cities where private cars are banned/strongly discouraged.

Cabs don't need parking.

(Well, they do, but it's out in my neighborhood in queens.)

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