is taxi or airport shuttle a good investment in houston? (Lone Star: how much, hotel)

[Brom]

i want to buy 1 (one) taxi or airport shuttle as an investment..

i dont know if it's a good idea in houston though..

anyone here owns a taxi or airport shuttle?

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by Brom

i want to buy 1 (one) taxi or airport shuttle as an investment..

i dont know if it's a good idea in houston though..

anyone here owns a taxi or airport shuttle?

I am very familiar with that business, but do not own one. Are you aware that they are regulated, and one does not simply buy or start a taxi business. You must buy an existing business, and you must have City of Houston approval to do so. The number of taxis is strictly regulated also. For example (and these are totally made up numbers just for examples) Yellow Taxi may have 250 licenses from the city, so they can put 250 cabs on the street. Or Lone Star Taxi may have 100, so they can put... you get the idea. So you can't simply start a taxi company, or even start your own one-man taxi business.

And yes, they are very good investments.

[Dopo]

What a bunch of bs
what happened to the whole idea that "Texas is business friendly" and people gotta jump through a bunch of hoops just to drive a taxi

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by Dopo

What a bunch of bs
what happened to the whole idea that "Texas is business friendly" and people gotta jump through a bunch of hoops just to drive a taxi

It's been this way since the dawn of time, and not just Texas, but everywhere. Just as airlines are regulated, so are taxis, bus lines, trains, etc. There are safety regulations, training requirements, etc. Do you want to jump in a cab, and not know whether it meets any safety standards? How much will it cost you? What if the meter is rigged? How do you know it's not a serial rapist driving a fake cab, waiting for his/her target to get in?

There are some serious and legitimate reasons why transportation firms are all regulated and licensed.

Here's one minor example of what the regulations prevent: You flag down a cab. You tell him you need to go about six blocks to your hotel. A free-lance cabby could say "no way, I can't make any money on that, go find another sucker to haul you". And you would be SOL. But the regulations require that all taxis take any legitimate fare.

A free market doesn't always mean no rules.