A MODEL FOR GOVERNMENT ENTITIES EVERYWHERE: Portsmouth regulators vote to eliminate taxi regulations.

In response to Uber ride-sharing drivers now working in the city, the Taxi Commission on Wednesday recommended the elimination of taxi medallions, regulation of taxi fares, city taxi inspections and the Taxi Commission itself.

The commission voted unanimously to send a memo to the City Council outlining its recommendations to lift many regulations currently imposed on drivers-for-hire. . . .

“I think the public is probably better served if we also have ride-sharing,” Cataldo said, explaining that ride-share drivers help get intoxicated people home safely.

Cataldo said the Uber model dispatches more drivers to certain locations when demand peaks and that cab drivers have not been available to transport all of the people who need rides all of the time. He said he’s most concerned about bar patrons having rides between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. because ensuring impaired people don’t drive is “a blessing to the city.”

Cataldo said if drivers are smoking, or offering rides in unkempt vehicles, consumers will decide if they want to hire them. Under the proposal, police would continue to conduct background checks of registered drivers who would also have to provide proof that their passengers are insured for a minimum of $300,000 under a commercial policy.

Several commissioners compared the proposed deregulation of taxi fares to the fact that someone can buy a glass of beer for $4 at a downtown pub and pay $8 for a glass of the same beer at a nearby restaurant.

“I guess it’s going to come down to what consumers want to do,” said Lt. Chris Cummings, the Police Department’s liaison to the Taxi Commission.

What a novel approach. What if it spreads?