If they have meters, clearly they can't charge what they like. The whole point of a meter is to standardise the cost per mile, at a rate set by the city. If they can charge what the like, what would be the point of the meter? If taxi A has a meter set to $1 a mile and taxi B is set to 50 cents per mile, the meter is rendered pointless.
Look, you guys appear to be arguing that if a business is for profit, then it is not public transportation. That just doesn't make sense. The Tokyo Metro area has seven train companies providing commuter train services on a competitive basis. The companies are private companies, providing competing services and are highly profitable. To say that the Tokyo Metro is not public tranportation doesn't make sense.
Likewise, in the UK train companies compete for business in much the same way airlines do. Virgin runs trains for example, which run from London to Glasgow. They compete against another company (LNER). Both companies are private for profit (as are virtually all train companies in the UK). Are we saying that trains in the UK are not public transportation?
You guys are blinkered. It doesn't matter if the services is provided for profit, or subsidised, services which provide transportation for the public are critical for the well being of the economy and are part of the vital infrastructure. All forms of transport are highly subsidised, whether by road, sea, rail or air and need to be regulated. There is nothing unique about air travel.
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