Cambridge taxi drivers strike to protest Uber, Lyft

The Boston Globe reports:

Cambridge cabbies took a page from their Paris comrades’ playbook on Monday, staging a strike to protest Uber and other ride-hailing companies that are stealing a growing number of riders.

But while the French drivers in June won strong support from the national government, which has outlawed some Uber services, the reaction from Cambridge officials boiled down to this: Uber is too popular to stop.

“You guys realize the constituency that supports Uber is the majority and you’re the minority, right?” said a frustrated City Councilor Nadeem Mazen, arguing with a mob of angry cab drivers who overheard him remark to a reporter that he uses Uber every day. “The state is about to make Uber legal — it’s about to make it fully legal, OK? And you guys are about to be in an even worse position.”

The fundamental complaint of the protesting drivers, who numbered about 50 to 60 throughout the day, was familiar: Uber openly flouts existing regulations, unfairly undercutting taxi owners who cannot raise fares in response to demand, who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for medallions that are plummeting in value, and who must buy expensive commercial insurance.

The taxi cartel begins to face the music.