So I started thinking numbers (math guys can correct me if I'm wrong):
Calgary has a population of around a million, with 1500 taxis (I think, based on this old CBC article).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...lief-1.1376084
That's a ratio of 0.0015 cabs per person (roughly)
I know I always throw out Beijing as a comparable, but I'm there a lot and I use cabs there a lot as well. Beijing population is 21 million (and growing), with 70 000 cabs (0.003 cabs per person). I don't ever have a problem getting a cab there, but there is a shortage looming because of their explosive population growth. People are already complaining about "selective" habits of their drivers (sound familiar?)
Essentially Beijing, with their cab "shortage", still has double the cabs per capita that we do.
Someone please give me ANY good reason we are restricting cab licenses. No wonder Uber is killing it in this market, it's TOTALLY underserved on the supply side. You could probably put hundreds (a thousand?) of Uber drivers on the road just to get to a decent cab to population ratio.
Maybe that's what the city is afraid of? They know we have a massive cab shortage, and they don't want it filled with an "unregulated" service that has the potential to match the amount of cabs currently running?