I agree, as long as they’re regulated for safety, driver training and insurance. I remember a big problem with unregulated “dollar vans” from my time in NYC, with a number of terrible accidents occurring because the vehicles were poorly maintained or driven recklessly. That the dollar vans existed spoke to under-service by the MTA of certain poor neighbourhoods, but they weren’t really off-setting private car use since they tended to serve customers who couldn’t afford their own cars in the first place.
The long-term solution, along with congestion pricing in city centres, is better-funded official public transit. Jitneys and dollar vans are stopgaps.
As noted above, one of the few good things about Uber is that it exposed that racket to the public in many cities, including NYC. If Uber and Lyft go under and taxis again become the norm, I expect that people will demand the kind of reforms to medallion systems I suggested.
