In Chile cab numbers are frozen for pollution and congestion reasons, so
the only legal way to get a new cab is to buy the plate from an old one.
That sounds just like the scam New York has going. Those "plates" are
worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, thanks to their "regulations".
Before that, the number of taxis was so incredibly high you NEVER EVER
had to wait to get one. You could step out of your house and a minute
later a cab would be passing in fron of you. Downtown entire street blocks
were full of them, all empty, all doing 2mph to get a fare.
Something doesn't add up here. If what you say was true, few of those
cab drivers were making money -- and most of them would have ceased
operation within weeks.
If, on the other hand, those guys WERE making money -- and they must
have been -- and you NEVER had to wait for a cab, this sounds like a
win-win situation for all concerned. The cab drivers had a job, and
the cab users had quick, efficient transortation.
Your government getting involved by selling "plates" has accomplished
three things: You now must wait for a cab, your government has added an
invisible (to most) tax to its citizens, and your fare you pay will be
higher. In short, the typical, low-level government fleecing of its
citizens under the guise of "regulation".
You may say that Chile has no low-level corruption, and I have no
reason to doubt you. America has very little of the "pay the cop $100
and he'll look the other way" type of corruption, etiher. What we have
in spades, however, (and it sounds like Chile does, too) is
"corruption by regulation", where the powers that be have codified
their corrupt practices to make them appear legal and moral. The FAA
regulation against buying a friend a tank of gas for helping you is but
one of the many examples of this type of thing.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"