Uber, Zocdoc, And The Art Of Innovation Within Healthcare’s Regulatory Limits

UKRAINE - 2021/08/02: In this photo illustration a Zocdoc logo seen on a smartphone and a pc screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

During the Great Depression, New York’s streets turned chaotic. Thousands of unemployed residents, desperate for work, began running unlicensed cab services in their own cars, crowding intersections and undercutting one another for fares. Safety was nonexistent, and competition was ruthless. In 1937, the city signed the Haas Act, creating a new system that capped the number of taxis and required each vehicle to display a medallion, which granted the exclusive right to pick up passengers in New York City.

This medallion system reigned for three-quarters of a century