Regulation in the Taxi Industry.

This paper examines some of the economic reasons for price and entry regulation in the taxi industry and presents the legal framework under which taxis and hire cars are regulated in England and Wales outside London. It is argued that the current law is defective and should be amended to incorporate explicitly the inter-relationship between fares and vehicle numbers such that the regulators have the discretion to choose between a high price/high availability service and a low price/low availability service.