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At Monday’s rambling hearing on a new set of regulations by the D.C. Taxicab Commission that would establish a concrete set of rules for livery sedans, Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) came off as one of the most implacable opponents of Uber, the on-demand sedan service that has established a significant chunk of the District’s rides-for-hire market.

“I don’t want this city to be Uber,” Graham said in one of several testy exchanges with Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick. “My concern is your fares dropping so that you are in competition with taxi drivers.” Graham also set himself up as the defender of the District’s cabbies, saying he was “interested in preserving” the industry’s current infrastructure.

But in an email to DCist today and a subsequent phone interview, Graham said his position is different, and that perhaps rather than apply dozens of potentially onerous new regulations on Uber and the sedan operators with which it contracts, the D.C. Council might consider slackening the rules that govern the city’s taxi fleet.

“If we level the playing field, if [taxis] can obtain the same privilege Uber has, they compete on the same terms,” he said in the interview.

The regulations, first published last week, would establish a new class of livery vehicles known as “sedan class.” Under that designation, drivers would take fares based on pre-negotiated arrangements—including by mobile application—rather than street hails.

And demand for sedan services on the rise, Graham said he is open to letting taxi drivers and companies apply for the sedan license. The D.C. Taxicab Commission, meanwhile, hasn’t licensed a new cab operator in nearly three years, he added.

“When we got the bill Monday,” Graham said, “it didn’t clearly authorize the ability of the taxicab operators to obtain a new sedan license.”

He said taxi operators were complaining the status quo—Uber is exempted from DCTC oversight through December 31—was leaving Uber completely off-the-hook while taxi companies sit heavily regulated. Now, instead of bringing Uber in line with many of the same provisions that govern taxicabs, Graham said the opposite might be the ideal solution and let taxi operators offer sedan service.

“It could be a group of taxi operators applying for a sedan license,” Graham said. “They couldn’t have a dome light, would have to have distinctive markings. You couldn’t hail a sedan.”

But on Monday, Graham was also resistant to Uber’s hopes to eventually lower its fares in D.C., making it an even more attractive option to customers turned off by standard taxis. Today, Graham says that’s also something that could be allayed by permitting taxi operators to get in the sedan market.

“If you have others having the same advantage then i’m less concerned about the price,” he said. “We could really be transforming the D.C. taxicab industry. We could end up with something so much better. There’s a reason Uber is succeeding.”