Last week, I ordered my first Uber ride.
Normally when I take the train to Chicago from Springfield, I hail a cab to get to my hotel from Union Station.
But last week Chicago cab drivers went on strike – to protest Uber.
This presented an excellent opportunity for travelers, such as myself, to try something new.
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Uber is a ridesharing company. It allows potential passengers to use a smartphone application to connect with drivers of vehicles for hire.
So I downloaded an Uber application to my phone and requested a ride.
Moments later a Volkswagen pulled to the curb and I hopped in.
The driver immigrated to the United States from Colombia. During the day, he works as a valet parker and in the evening he drives his family’s car for a couple more hours to help make ends meet.
As he drove me to my hotel, he showed me pictures of his seven kids and gushed over the opportunities he has found in this nation.
And one of those opportunities is Uber.
It’s a typical immigrant story: Work hard, compete and make things better for your children.
But competition is something Chicago’s highly regulated taxicab industry is working hard against.
Cab owners purchase or lease pricey medallions issued by City Hall.
And they must abide by a slew of regulations, which companies like Uber have managed to avoid.
The answer to this unfair situation is to create a level playing field for the cabbies.
Eliminate the pricey medallion licensing system, reduce barriers to the market and slash regulations.
This benefits consumers as well as taxi drivers by bringing prices down.
Uber is part of a new economic concept called “the sharing economy.”
And it’s here to stay.
For example, a coworker of mine has quit staying in hotels. She logs onto Airbnb and selects a room from among those offered by private homeowners who rent out extra space.
As one might expect, motel owners hate this competition.
Tough luck.
We should encourage, rather than discourage, competition.
In a refreshing free-market move this year, the Illinois General Assembly embraced a portion of the sharing economy by allowing for investment crowdfunding of businesses.
Let’s say you want to start a barbershop but don’t want to borrow from a bank to get your business going. You can sell portions of the ownership of your business over the Internet to finance the endeavor.
It’s sort of like the New York Stock Exchange only for smaller businesses.
As you may have guessed, not all bankers are keen on this idea.
But it has given opportunities for people to start a business who otherwise might not be able to.
Uber, Airbnb and investment crowdfunding are just some of the latest examples of how the marketplace thrives on competition.
When competition doesn’t exist, entrepreneurs will find a way to create it.
And that benefits customers.
That’s the beauty of the free enterprise system.
Scott Reeder is a columnist with Illinois News Network, a project of the Illinois Policy Institute.
Email: sreeder@illinoispolicy.org.
Follow Scott Reeder on Twitter at: @scottreeder
Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com
