Taxicab industry has history of lobbying, donations

The Virginia DMV’s order for Uber and Lyft to cease all operations in the commonwealth is the latest showing of the taxicab industry’s influence in the commonwealth. It isn’t the first time the industry has used its heavy bumpers to persuade Virginia politicians.

“You have a very cozy monopoly that they have benefited from these protectionism regulations for a long time, and they’re absolutely not happy that Uber, Lyft and others are cutting into their turf, as they see it,” said Marc Scribner, a transportation research fellow with the free-market-minded Competitive Enterprise Institute.