Is anyone surprised? Perth taxi drivers decided to protest a minor weakening of their state-created and enforced monopoly of the roads,

About 40 taxi drivers have a held a stop work meeting at Perth Airport to protest against the State Government's decision to extend a trial of peak period taxis.

The previous government instigated the year-long trial which allowed more cabs on the road at peak hour on week day mornings.

Last week the Government agreed to extend the trial for another year, but reduce the number of peak period plates allowed on the road each day by half.

A Spokesman for the Taxi Industry Forum, Stephen Satchell, says peak period plates do work, but they need to be specific to weekends and areas like Northbridge and Fremantle.

"Tourism is down, business is down, our economy is going down, and our Minister has put more taxis on," he said.

"It doesn't make sense." -- Source

You're right Mr. Satchell, it doesn't make sense. There is no reason at all why the current taxi drivers should have a monopoly on the Perth market, one that's protected by threat of force (by that I mean government guns/prison). All it does is distort the market with the end result being poor service for the consumer. Anyone who's had the displeasure of dealing with the Perth taxi monopoly on a Friday or Saturday night can sympathise with this argument.

We need to deregulate the industry, abolish 'taxi plates' and allow any entrepreneur who wants to compete for fares with the big boys his right to do so. These 'peak period plates' are the perfect example of government creating a 'solution' (I wonder how many taxpayer dollars were spent devising and now regulating them) to a government created 'problem'. It's perverse.