(Newswire.net — March 23, 2021) — A Colorado man ended up filing a lawsuit when he tried to start a shuttle business after working at a mountain hot springs resort outside Steamboat Springs. Abdallah Batayneh noticed customers often complained about the cost of the existing shuttle services so he launched a single-van operation to compete with the two existing providers. Batayneh, a Jordanian immigrant who became a U.S. citizen, said he saw the new service as a way to supplement his income in the resort area, where he has a wife and a son. In his free time, he also runs a laundry service.
He began by charging less than existing carriers to transport customers to Strawberry Park Hot Springs, which is situated in a remote area at the end of a rugged, unpaved county road that becomes dangerously slick in the winter.
In order to start the business, he was required by law to obtain a permit, and to obtain a permit, he had to show that further competition was required and that the current services were insufficient. He had already demonstrated that he was capable of providing the service However, the state regulatory commission decided that he did not prove there was a need for more competition. He notes that he had given the Colorado Public Utilities Commission PUC all the information they needed, but he believes they denied his permit in order to protect another company.
The question at the core of the conflict with the ruling, according to the Arlington, Virginia-based Institute for Justice, is whether prospective competition should have a say in applications for new entries into a market. Across the country, the Institute for Justice has taken on similar challenges to permit regulations. Since the 1990s, it has contested legislation prohibiting access to Denver’s taxi market in Colorado. In that market, state legislatures have eased requirements close to those faced by common-carrier applicants in recent decades. According to PUC records, 174 common-carrier permits were operational in Colorado as of last June. The common-carrier market in Colorado is governed by the “controlled monopoly doctrine,” which includes on-demand shuttles, taxis outside of major cities, sightseeing buses, and charters.
According to the PUC’s recommendation to reject Batayneh’s application, the public would obtain “secure, reliable, and more cost-effective service” if the number of carriers offering similar service is restricted such that each can make a fair profit. In October, administrative law judge Melody Mirbaba wrote that stretching the competition between so many rivals “ultimately results in a loss of operation and higher fares for the public.”Will Aronin, the institute’s lead counsel on the lawsuit, notes that their concern is that if there is too much competition, it will be a race to the bottom for the businesses. However, he surmises that those concerns never really materialise.
Batayneh believes his protest of this injustice is justified because he sees it as interference in the market where customers should be the ones to decide and not the government. His experience is an example of being sure of the market you’re getting into when you decide to start a business. This Col based law Attorney’s office can help you if you are looking to start a company.