Uber is a great concept, but the reality is that Uber has shown us time and time again why taxis cost what they do: regulation to protect users and our cities.
Uber, like AirBnB and a lot of other startups, are 'disrupting' industries by entering them and taking them over by ignoring regulations, insurance, and even laws to keep costs low and make a profit. In this day and age, they can grow fast enough that by the time cities see the repercussions and react to them, the companies are big enough and rich enough (and flush enough with VC money) to fight back, and are already entrenched with a loud and enthusiastic user base.
In other words, Uber is great if you ignore the various safety and insurance regulations, background checks, licensing, etc. that taxis have to comply with.
Uber doesn't have to put taxis out of business, it's growing the market - getting a lot more people using taxi-like services. Both people who aren't willing to shell out how much cabs charge in their artificially restricted markets and people who've had shitty experiences with cabs in the past. Not to mention how poor taxi service is in the vast majority of US cities.
I personally use Uber because I hate calling a cab company, finding out it does or doesn't have a cab to send, figuring out the address I need it to come to, getting a very general estimate of when it'll be there (8-15 minutes), etc. With uber I drop the pin in the exact spot I want it, I know the minute my cab is there. If cab companies had an app like that, they'd have my business.
On the other hand, the taxi industry is a slap in the face to anyone needing to safely get to a destination beyond walking distance.
I used Uber a bunch while I was traveling around Southeast Asia. There were also times I had to take taxis. The taxis would routinely try to rip me off, refuse to run the meters, inflate the price at the destination and threaten to bring in police if I didn't pay the new amount that was 2-3 times the agreed upon rate. When running the meters, the taxis would routinely take long, roundabout routes to inflate the fare. And in cities without Uber, taxi fares were routinely as much as 5 times higher than in cities with Uber.
Meanwhile, Uber would tell me, in advance, the price I would pay, have a car show up without me having to flag it down and the drivers would use GPS to take me exactly where I wanted to go as fast a possible.
People like to focus on how Uber is exploiting their drivers and charging below-cost prices, but they ignore all the other ways that Uber is better than the taxi industry and all the ways that the taxi industry has needed to change for a long time now. I can respect Stallman's opinion, but when Uber is not only the cheaper option but also the safer option, I'm not going to choose to compromise my safety to make a principled point.
I don't get why Uber is better than taxi drivers - aren't they a taxi, as well ?
In London, they're cheaper than black cabs because they aren't regulated. If they're taxi, they should be regulated - same regulation, or lack of, for all.
I don't like Uber, but it became popular because of convenience, not because of costs.
Pre-Uber/Lift in my city you'd have taxi companies that were operating like a cartel and giving a shitty service. Drivers were borderline rude. You had to call a dispatcher that was also usually rude and then wait 20 mins for a cab to show up.
Uber changed that process for the best by actually allowing me to get a taxi from an app in 30 seconds, they usually showed up much faster and the driver, fearing a 4-stars review, is usually incentivized to at least keep their car clean. It's a game changer and I wouldn't go back.
So no, the magic of Uber is not passing those hidden cost to the driver, it's actually offering a service that I want to use after +40 years of a corrupt industry that couldn't give a shit about improving.
Now that Uber gave them a big scare, they actually improved, but the idea that they would have evolved without an existential threat is madness.
Uber undermines local taxi businesses offering mild comfort and some wows but also no job/social security and no quality standards (like the London Knowledge for example). It outcompetes taxis by sidestepping regulations. And just like airbnb while it was meant as a means to share one's own property for extra income, that's hardly the case in reality. People use both for full time commercial activity, and they evade taxes and regulations through them.
I don't very much care for Uber. I don't want them to have a monopoly in the taxi market. Hopefully a more open taxi industry with competition allows for improved quality.
I'm European, and in general I like (well thought out) regulations, but in the case of the taxi industry Uber is actually not a bad guy but a huge blessing.
In a lot of countries (80%+) taxi drivers are rude, try to price gouge, try to scam you or try to take longer routes.
Uber takes all of this away. The rating system ensures drivers are polite. The estimate € (plus route tracking) ensures they don't take the scenic route, and the fact that all payment happens via the app means there is no longer 'my meter is broken/the credit card reader is broken/sorry I miscalculated its €10 more'.
And because Uber is global I can use the same app wether I am in Paris, Prague, Hanoi or Seattle.. which means I don't need to install and learn 3 different apps.
Edit: to be clear, I am aware why Uber gets such a bad rep, and as a tech company they might deserve it, but as a taxi company they are absolutely top notch.
I think Uber is a prime example of what to avoid. Sure when it started it seemed nice, it was an affordable, fairly reliable, much more convenient alternative to taxis. Now its expensive, its drivers a new impoverished class while the previously somewhat comfortable taxi-drivers have been decimated, the wait times keep getting longer, and the company is hemorrhaging money.
If all we needed was an app for taxis theres just no way this is worth it.
Taxi companies have always been crap places to work. The job is (relatively) dangerous, pay is bad, flexibility is bad, and probably no benefits. Didn't help that most cities had a medallion system that enabled a group of rent seekers. And outside of NYC, Chicago, and maybe a couple other cities taxis sucked.
I think Uber is much more efficient and better overall for society than what it is replacing. Not a great job by any means, but far better than a taxi company. And when I look back 10 years ago Uber/Lyft are probably top 3 things that have made the world better. It opened up an enormous amount of flexibility when going out at night and eliminated concerns around drunk driving.
I welcome any expansion of Uber service and availability, and oppose anything that supports the entrenched and terrible existing taxi services. I've only taken a handful of Ubers, but the quality of service is far higher. Moreover, it's the convenience that really wins out. Being able to see the GPS locations and ETA of an incoming Uber is far superior than calling a taxi and hoping they show up sometime close to when the dispatcher said they would. Not to mention that it's a completely friction-free experience - the driver arrives, you jump in, chit-chat a little on the way (Uber drivers are, in my experience, far more pleasant human beings that taxi drivers...), then you jump out, and they charge your card. No frigging around with change, or having to make sure you hit an ATM before you call the cab so you have cash on hand, or getting the evil eye because you didn't volunteer the unstated but expected tip on top of the exorbitant fare.
Taxi companies can die in a fire, for all I care. The last trip I took, I had to get about 10 miles from a train station to where I was going. The first leg, I caught an Uber, and it cost me about $13, in a clean vehicle, with a very pleasant driver. The way back, I had to take a taxi, and I spent $40 to ride with a driver who was kind of a dink, swerved all over the road, and drove a dirty, rattle-trap old Crown Vic. Uber uber alles.
On the flip (karma) side, as a non-driver, Uber has materially changed my life. I rank it up there with google maps, cell phones, and SMS/imessage/whatsapp in terms of its impact. I can click a button, and in most major cities, have transportation, often at a price less than taxies that would sometimes never show up, in less than 5 minutes. The transportation is safe, clean, and polite (something I would also not have ascribed to taxis in most cities.)
In Netherlands, most (all?) Ubers are actually cabs. And many of my NL Uber rides have thankfully been in the taxi cars which are well maintained Mercedes E or S class cars rather than some dude's 1995 Toyota Corrola.
What Uber did that was great was provide an app where you could call a taxi. How they got ahead was by ignoring regulation which enabled them to provide lower fares and get more business.
But Uber could not exist without traditional cabs. Or at least, something would fill the void of Uber if there were no cabs. There are many places in cities where cabs congregate to wait for passengers. Airports are probably the best example.
People leaving airplanes often need a ride to their final destination. Imagine if everyone leaving the airport had to find a way to get local mobile service and then call an Uber. Eventually you'd end up with Uber drivers recognizing this need and parking themselves near the airport, ignoring calls, and choosing only nearby airport calls.
The taxi industry needed a kick in the ass; there is no question. But all they lacked was a good software company and service. They did not need a fleet of regular dudes who happen to own cars and who get deluded into thinking they can have a real income from driving people around. The news is full of sad stories of people who struggle to get by as Uber drivers.
This will be off topic, but I'd like to hear others' thoughts on the issue.
I reallyreally dislike, the taxi industry. I have ridden a cab at 2am, and paid 4x what I regularly do, in cash, because 'the machine is broken'. I hate running after them. Finding cabs after hours is _hell_.
But I find Uber super-duper scummy. It's just the general...everything about it. That when you need it the most, it jacks up its prices, breaks laws like it's no one's business, and then spends SHIT TONS of money in lobbying to change them. Etcetera. But I do like the much improved transportation system it's led to. It's like day and night.
So... why doesn't anyone (or even a regulatory agency!!!) create an open marketplace for transportation services, where riders and drivers can bid, and all the 'services' are just middlemen between the marketplace and individual agents? Sort of like... email, but for Uber?
I moved into an economically depressed area and let me tell you: it was hit and miss taking taxis. It didn't matter if I called dispatch repeatedly or booked ahead of time even with the more expensive car service, I could never count on a taxi to show despite the fact I was very clear about this being a coveted airport ride. Nobody wanted to pick up a fare at 4 AM in the ghetto and I nearly missed my plane more than once.
I eventually punted and had my wife drive me to the closest hotel with a cab stand. But that meant she had to get up and drive me around at 4 AM just because the cab company was unreliable.
Now with Uber not only is the car there within minutes but the charge against my corporate card is automatically sent to my corporate expense system. So no from my perspective Uber is far better! And this is despite the uber app wanting to spy on users between and after use. But that's what location permissions are for. Or just uninstalling the app entirely when not in use.
I have lots of issues with Uber, but as they expand, there's tons of potential. Taxis in many places are lowbrow affairs with business dominated by drunks and Medicaid cab rides.
To me, the prospect of sitting in half-dried vomit in the back of a 10 year old former police cruiser isn't very appealing. Uber makes it approachable for people like me -- I'd rather have a pleasant ride to the airport or train station than deal with parking or inconveniencing my wife for rides.
Maybe it's just that it's not really an issue where I live, but what problem is Uber trying to solve?
The main issue is getting a taxi in really small towns in the middle of nowhere, but it seems unlikely that Uber would have someone in these places, simply because there isn't really a demand.
I find it really hard to see Uber as anything but a taxi company that tries to underbid the competition by not following the same rules as everyone else.
Taxis in america (especially San Francisco, where Uber is from) are horrible and downright dangerous. Even the shittiest Uber drivers are better than the average taxi driver. And even if you wanted to hail a cab, your best bet is to try to hail one on the street, because if you call, there's a 50+% chance your taxi won't even show up.
And let's not even get into the joke that we call public transportation here.
This is the problem it solves. A problem that is not nearly as pronounced in Europe.
What shocks me is how slowly the taxi companies are responding to the Uber threat. I use Uber when I can and the price has nothing to do with it. It's better cars, better service, and friendlier drivers (usually).
Every time I get in some yellow cab that's a 5 year old Crown Vic with torn seats, rattles everywhere, and a driver that can't (or won't) tell me how much my ride is going to cost, I remember why I normally take Uber.
Traditional taxis are threatened by new competitors, but the plural here is important. It's not just Uber, it's Uber, Lyft, and all the others that can come up. Here in London we already have a large number of minicab companies. Uber is very successful because they're cheapest. But as soon as they'd raise prices someone else will take the crown.
Developing a basic app for taxis (calling a cab, paying, ETA) will probably not cost more than a few millions. Getting people to drive for you (in addition to other companies) is also very easy at the moment. That makes barriers to entry extremely low in the market. It's not an Amazon with huge warehouses and not a Google with a highly sophisticated search algorithm. Uber just competes by price, they have no real technical advantage here.
Uber, like AirBnB and a lot of other startups, are 'disrupting' industries by entering them and taking them over by ignoring regulations, insurance, and even laws to keep costs low and make a profit. In this day and age, they can grow fast enough that by the time cities see the repercussions and react to them, the companies are big enough and rich enough (and flush enough with VC money) to fight back, and are already entrenched with a loud and enthusiastic user base.
In other words, Uber is great if you ignore the various safety and insurance regulations, background checks, licensing, etc. that taxis have to comply with.
reply