EDITORIAL: Freedom to ride-share

Technology has transformed economies and societies over the past 20 years — and it’s just getting started. Everybody is connected to mobile devices that get smaller and more powerful every year, allowing us to do everything from order pizza to shop for a new car at the tap of a touch-screen button.

Innovation has wiped out entire industries and is radically remaking others. No business is immune from this creative destruction. But the transportation industry — particularly taxicabs and other forms of regulated transit — clearly believes it should be invulnerable. Case in point: Uber, a ride-sharing and car-for-hire app that connects ride-seekers to drivers.

As reported Saturday by the Review-Journal’s Kristy Totten, the app is available in 60 cities in 26 countries, including several U.S. cities. But it’s illegal in Nevada, something the San Francisco-based startup made hay of during last week’s International Consumer Electronics Show. Ms. Totten noted that Nevada Administrative Code requires charter services (such as limousines) to charge by the hour and for a minimum of one hour, a requirement Uber says it falls under.

Nevada Transportation Authority Chairman Andrew MacKay told Ms. Totten that Uber can indeed operate in Nevada, provided it follows state code. Uber spokesman Andrew Noyes said the regulations are in place to shield the taxi industry, and that the company plans to ask the Nevada Legislature for relief in 2015.

Government regulation can hold back the technological revolution for only so long. Companies such as Uber, Lyft and SideCar call attention to protectionist policies that keep out competition and stifle reinvention. The companies offer those in need of a ride a much cheaper alternative to taxis, and provide riders and drivers with instant information by allowing them to rate one another. Sometimes they allow people to fill car seats that would otherwise be empty for planned trips, keeping additional vehicles off the road.

As with sweeping changes in other industries, ride-sharing apps are causing some chaos. Striking cabdrivers in Paris attacked an Uber car this week over what they claim is unfair competition. Cabdrivers there and elsewhere pay huge fees to be able to work. But instead of advocating deregulation for the benefit of all, a threatened industry begs of government, “Regulate the other guy, too!”

As long as the companies conduct background checks on drivers and verify that they’re licensed and adequately insured, this grand transportation experiment should be allowed to go forward. The companies — and consumers — just need government to get out of the way.