Ride-sharing app companies like Lyft and Uber have been facing scrutiny and overburdensome government regulations since they launched and their creators have been speaking out against this business environment that does not encourage innovation.
John Zimmer, co-founder and president of Lyft, sat down with ReasonTV to discuss what cities can do to help new kinds of businesses get started.
“What we’ve realized is that there are many agencies at a state and local level and there are many interests and existing industries. So often when we work really hard to solve a problem with the state agency, then the legislature comes out with something that’s being supported by trial lawyers or insurance companies or city attorneys have separate issues that they’re concerned about. It’s really challenging,” Zimmer said.
“The dangerous thing is to have a patchwork set of regulations. It can make it really difficult for a company to operate.”
To solve this problem, Zimmer said, the first step is to get consumers, business owners, creators, and legislators talking.
“We’d like to engage in dialogue and talk about the rules that were created, mostly decades ago, let’s have an open conversation about why,” Zimmer said.
He would also like to see cities and states potentially create innovation-focused agencies that look at existing rules and “think forward” to future growth.
Watch the interview below:
