[harryc]

Originally Posted by emathias

Talking to a taxi driver the other day, he said there are about 4 times as many Uber/Lyft drivers as taxis in the city at rush hour. I don't doubt that. he also said they're largely responsible for the exceedingly bad traffic in the central area at rush hour over the past few years and, again, it hadn't really occurred to me, but I had *definitely* noticed traffic being much, much worse lately and I think he's correct that Uber/Lyft have a lot of the blame for that.

There must be some way to manage that. I mean, I think the idea that the City will protect medallion owners is past the point of no return, but there's got to be *something* that can be done to tamp down the cause of traffic. It used to take me 10-15 minutes in a cab at rush hour from basically Ogilvie to Lasalle/Chicago, now it takes 20-25 minutes anytime before 6pm most days if I take a cab. It's gotten absurd. I walk, or take a bike at least half of the time, and take the CTA some, too, but I take taxis or Uber/Lyft enough to know that traffic has gotten much worse since Uber/Lyft really caught on. If it wasn't for the fact that CTA buses get really slowed down, too, I guess I wouldn't care that much - if drivers want to sit in traffic, let them, but I feel bad for the bus riders.

I have no problem at all - DIVVy.

The problem is with people who are doing piece work on public facilities (streets). To be a Taxi/Uber/Pizza driver you must disregard as many laws as you can and push hard for those "pieces". If the laws are enforced to the point where it cost more to break them than not you will find these folk model citizens (for example they never plow over pedestrians). A great example is the bridge work at LaSalle, it is a rare time when I cross Wacker and the traffic on LaSalle is not backed up (often to Hubbard) with somebody who is ignoring the no turn signs and waiting to turn onto Wacker. A camera enforcement system - or even the threat of one - would modify this behavior quickly.