A very successful retired businessman and former high-ranking government official in the Bush administration sent an email to some friends on Sunday letting us know he was in Singapore using Uber – the worldwide ride-sharing membership club.
“Yet I couldn’t use it in Reno to get to the airport to fly here. Or in Las Vegas last week instead of renting a car.”
One of this gentlemen’s friends replied to the email…
“And I am in London using it now, having traveled from the apartment to San Francisco airport using Uber as well.”
Indeed, the author of the original email linked to a global list of where Uber’s service is available.
“Look at this list of U.S. cities and countries around the globe where Uber operates and tell me Las Vegas is not setting itself up to be regarded as third world.”
Indeed!
As the Nevada Legislature continues to botch what should be the simple task of simply declaring that – contrary to a highly-suspect judicial opinion of one court-shopped judge in Reno – it is legal in a private transaction for one consenting adult to provide a ride to the grocery store to another consenting adult at a mutually agreed upon fee.
In addition, that declaration of legality need not include imposing ridiculous, unnecessary and unwarranted government regulations on the private affairs of a private membership club – let alone socking those members with a new tax to pay for the construction of a new medical school at UNLV!
Are these people insane?
We haven’t seen extortion such as this since the mob was run out of town by corporate bean counters on the Strip.
But back to that list.
If Uber is good enough to operate in these places…
North America
Akron
Albuquerque
Amarillo
Ann Arbor
Asheville, NC
Athens
Atlanta
Auburn, AL
Augusta
Austin
Bakersfield
Baltimore
Baton Rouge
Bloomington-Normal
Boise
Boston
Broward and Palm Beach
Burlington
Cedar Rapids
Central Atlantic Coast, FL
Champaign
Charleston, SC
Charlotte
Charlottesville, VA
Chattanooga
Chicago
Cincinnati
Cleveland
College Station
Columbia, MO
Columbia, SC
Columbus
Connecticut
Corpus Christi
Dallas
Dayton
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
Edmonton
El Paso
Erie
Fayetteville, AR
Fayetteville, NC
Flagstaff
Flint
Florida Keys
Fort Myers-Naples
Fort Wayne
Fresno
Gainesville
Grand Rapids
Greater Maryland
Green Bay
Greenville, SC
Guadalajara
Halifax
Hampton Roads
Hamptons
Harrisburg
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Inland Empire
Jackson
Jacksonville
Kalamazoo
Kansas City
Knoxville
Lafayette, LA
Lancaster, PA
Lansing
Las Cruces
Lawrence
Lehigh Valley
Lexington
Lincoln
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Louisville
Lubbock
Madison
Manhattan
Maui
Memphis
Mexico City
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Modesto
Monterrey
Montreal
Myrtle Beach
NW Indiana
Nashville
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Jersey (Shore)
New Orleans
New York City
Ocala, FL
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Orange County
Orlando
Ottawa
Oxford
Palm Springs
Panama City, Fl
Pensacola, FL
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Piedmont Triad, NC
Pittsburgh
Portland
Portland, ME
Providence
Quebec City
Raleigh-Durham
Reading, PA
Richmond
Roanoke-Blacksburg
Rockford
Sacramento
Salem
Salt Lake City
San Antonio
San Diego
San Francisco
San Luis Obispo
Santa Barbara
Santa Fe
Sarasota
Savannah-Hilton Head
Seattle
South Bend
Spokane
Springfield, IL
St Louis
State College
Stillwater
Tacoma
Tallahassee
Tampa Bay
Tijuana
Toledo
Topeka
Toronto
Tucson
Tulsa
Tuscaloosa
Vancouver, WA
Ventura
Waco
Washington D.C.
Western MA
Wichita
Wilkes-Barre Scranton
Wilmington, NC
Worcester
Central & South America
Barranquilla
Belo Horizonte
Bogotá
Brasilia
Cali – Colombia
Lima
Medellin
Panama, Panama
Rio de Janeiro
Santiago
São Paulo
Europe, Middle East & Africa
Abu Dhabi
Amman
Amsterdam
Athens, GR
Baku
Barcelona
Basel
Beirut
Berlin
Birmingham
Bordeaux
Brussels
Bucharest
Budapest
Cairo
Cape Town
Copenhagen
Doha
Dubai
Dublin
Durban
Dusseldorf
Eastern Province, KSA
Frankfurt
Gdansk
Geneva
Genoa
Gothenburg
Hamburg
Helsinki
Istanbul
Jeddah
Johannesburg
Krakow
Lagos
Lausanne
Leeds
Lille
Lisbon
London
Lyon
Madrid
Manama
Manchester
Milan
Moscow
Munich
Nairobi
Newcastle
Nice
Oslo
Padua
Paris
Porto
Prague
Riyadh
Rome
Rotterdam
Saint Petersburg
Sofia
Stockholm
Tel Aviv
Toulouse
Turin
Valencia
Vienna
Warsaw
Zurich
Asia Pacific
Adelaide
Ahmedabad
Auckland
Bali
Bangalore
Bangkok
Beijing
Brisbane
Chandigarh
Chengdu
Chennai
Chongqing
Fukuoka
Geelong
Gold Coast
Guangzhou
Hangzhou
Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh City
Hong Kong
Hyderabad
Jaipur
Jakarta
Johor Bahru
Kochi
Kolkata
Kuala Lumpur
Manila
Melbourne
Mornington Peninsula
Mumbai
New Delhi
Penang
Perth
Pune
Seoul
Shanghai
Shenzhen
Singapore
Sydney
Taipei
Tianjin
Tokyo
Wellington
Wuhan
…why isn’t it good enough to operate in Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City, Elko and Lake Tahoe?
Republicans control both houses of the Nevada Legislature, as well as the Governor’s office.
So not a single Democrat vote is needed to legalize ride-sharing in Nevada as long as Republicans give up this non-Republican/anti-free market notion of regulating the life out of Uber and others, as well as the absurd attempt to build a medical school on the backs of ride-sharing customers.
It’s an embarrassment that legislative Republicans haven’t legalized Uber yet.
It’s long past time to “git ‘er done.”
Just do it already.
Sheesh.
