Robert Shannon Comments on Legal Issues Implicated by Tech-Based Companies Disrupting the Regulated Vehicle-for-Hire Market

Robert T. Shannon, chair of the firm's Government Practice Group, was quoted in the article "Driven by Demand" (subscription required), which appeared in the February 5, 2015 issue of Global Competition Review. The article discusses the disruption of the vehicle-for-hire market by tech-based companies such as Uber and Lyft, and the "dynamics pitting antitrust advocates against existing laws and the cab drivers who must abide by them." As noted in the article, "[Mr. Shannon] has worked for the traditional cab industry, and he points out the distinction between innovations operating inside existing law and those operating outside. He questions whether disparate regulatory treatment for essentially the same transport-for-hire activity should be granted just to encourage innovation. Governments 'need to be conscious of disparate regulatory treatment, not just in terms of the rules but how they enforce them[.] . . . If you’re going to exempt from regulation, why exempt only one side if the activity is the same?”