The Courage to Innovate

Apps are changing the world. Innovative apps combine technology to disrupt established ways of doing things, enhancing our lives in the process. Take Uber, for example. This app lets you use your phone to order a ride. They contract with established limousine services and they have an innovative and transparent billing system. Getting from point A to point B without your own car has never been more convenient.

Unfortunately, disruptive innovations often bump into regulations that are either outdated or designed to protect the existing intermediaries. Often these innovative new ways are so novel that it’s not clear how existing laws apply. In such a case there is a lot of pressure to interpret the law in the most restrictive way that protects established parties from being challenged by newcomers.

According to press reports, that’s exactly what is happening to Uber’s hybrid taxi-limousine service in Washington DC: The D.C. Taxicab Commission is bringing out the big guns. A car from one of Uber’s limousine service partners was impounded and its driver was ticketed Friday morning as part of a sting operation.

The only winners in this battle are the established taxi services and DC Mayor Vince Gray, who owes taxi drivers big time. In 2010, DC had a hard-fought mayor’s election in which the city’s taxi drivers mobilized heavily in his support. The losers are an innovative app maker and the people of the District of Columbia, who are prevented from using an innovative mobile service that radically improves the consumer experience, reduces congestion, and creates efficiency in the limousine market.