New services like Lyft Shuttle may have another important consequence: They can help reform the regulatory environments that prevent competition to public transit from emerging. Local governments have been cracking down on jitneys, dollar vans, and other black-market alternatives to public transit for decades. The locals who run those services generally don't have the resources to fight back in city hall. Companies like Lyft do. There's always the ugly possibility that a company like Lyft will win a special carve-out for itself and leave the jitney drivers high and dry. But there's also a chance that it can roll back some of these regulations across the board, creating the space for other alternatives to thrive. Related: Reason TV's "The Feds vs. the Chinatown Bus: The Glorious Rebirth of Bus Travel & Why the Gov't May Ruin it Again "