S.F. taxi industry in turmoil, might collapse in months, due to Uber/Lyft pressure

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Before the days of Uber and Lyft, it was near impossible to find a taxi in San Francisco. I've walked miles home from the bars because there were absolutely no taxis available. Now with all the ride services, there's always a car of some sort within a few blocks. The taxi industry failed to meet demand and adapted too slow.
 
dextran said:
Stupid to call it an industry when über and lift are clearly part of the same industry. Competition is great in other industries, but not here? Madness. Nothing is stopping yellow cab in making an app. Make the better product if you want to survive.
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Agreed. If they want to survive, they need to innovate, and make their services better.
 
Working in a similar industry (not taxi, but high end car service) I get to read the trade magazine every month.

Uber was a huge topic of "What can we do about this?" because they get around a ton of regulations since they don't own any cars, they don't have actual employees (legally they are contractors since they set their own hours & pay for their own insurance) and don't have to have vehicles inspected by airports or government officials since it's just a person's car. All things that taxi/limousine/etc. services have to do under the Dept. of Transportation.

Because of that, I'm not sure if they're going to get into any trouble or if the rules will change- but I don't doubt we'll see a court case come out of somewhere. The service seems genius, and I wish my work could take advantage of the same ideas.
 
MilkBeard said:
Agreed. If they want to survive, they need to innovate, and make their services better.
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Yes, but why can't Uber just officially become a cab company and put the same model in place? Considering they're a worldwide brand now, I'm sure they could afford it.
 
Goldrush said:
Yes, but why can't Uber just officially become a cab company and put the same model in place? Considering they're a worldwide brand now, I'm sure they could afford it.
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Simple: profit margins.

Uber is all giddy about replacing their drivers with Google driverless cars because they can slash prices quite significantly and completely undercut the conventional taxi competition.

Having all of the bloat of a registered cab company (instead of just remaining a technology company) would reduce their competitive edge / wouldn't maximize profits.
 
Goldrush said:
Yes, but why can't Uber just officially become a cab company and put the same model in place? Considering they're a worldwide brand now, I'm sure they could afford it.
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Cab companies in the US are invariably involved in corrupt local politics and occasionally invasive regulations. Uber ain't got time for that.
 
APKmetsfan said:
Do you tip uber?
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Nope, tips are built into the fare.

That's the great part about it...deciding how much to tip is never a concern.


If you don't like the service the driver will still receive the same amount of money, but you can give him a 1-star rating / bad review, which can be extremely damaging to a driver (i.e. Uber will fire them) if they accumulate too many of them.
 
Fun fact: I've never been in a taxi where the driver hasn't broken a few traffic laws, almost had an accident, and come very close to causing a bowel movement in my pants.
 
Aquamarine said:
Nope, tips are built into the fare.

That's the great part about it...deciding how much to tip is never a concern.


If you don't like the service the driver will still receive the same amount of money, but you can give him a 1-star rating / bad review, which can be extremely damaging to a driver (i.e. Uber will fire them) if they accumulate too many of them.
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Even in the off chance that the cab driver was just having a bad day, you and that driver will never be matched again when you use Uber, so there's that.
 
bill0527 said:
Fun fact: I've never been in a taxi where the driver hasn't broken a few traffic laws, almost had an accident, and come very close to causing a bowel movement in my pants.
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Yup. On more than one occasion I have been in a cab driven by someone of a different ethnicity than pictured on the license.

Only thing consistently worse are the limo/suv hawks in NY. Once I got in and asked if he took credit cards.

Oh yes of course sir.

I have zero cash. So credit card is ok, correct?

No problem!

Get to JFK, and without looking at it, he says - oh no, credit card machine is broken.

Tough shit, I say.

I grabbed my bag and got out, fuming.

He literally chased me, so I drop my bag and say WHAT?

He says, I'll call the cops.

I point at one and say, there you are, go get him.

He peeled out.

I am still mad, three years later.
 
And all of this will disappear when the cars drive themselves anyway.
 
Ether_Snake said:
And all of this will disappear when the cars drive themselves anyway.
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Actually, Google has invested $258 million into Uber.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-into-uber-its-largest-deal-ever/

http://www.zdnet.com/google-to-use-partners-maybe-uber-in-self-driving-car-release-brin-7000029918/


So when Google releases their self driving cars, Uber will be the first services to replace all of their drivers with them and accelerate even further ahead of their competition.
 
Brakke said:
"Taxi" isn't an industry, it's a business model. A shit business model.
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It is a controlled industry. There are only enough licenses granted to meet demand to ensure that the business is sustainable and the population can get a ride. Licenses are incredibly expensive as they are limited in number. Only when a owner retires do they sell their license and when they so it serves as part of their retirement.

Other industries are license driven, like Salmon fishing boats. Only so many of those are granted and they have to operate in the rules of the industry.

That said, the taxi industry thought they were bulletproof because of these controls. Now that someone has figured out a way of decentralizing the business and existing on the fringe of legality.

As a person who has family involved in the traditional taxi business Über isn't a good thing because a traditional taxi business can't compete. Not because they can't do as good a service but because they simply are not allowed to. They can't just jam cars out there. They are restricted by the amount of cars they can even have on the road at once. They also only move at the speed of Goverment so by the time taxis are allowed to compete Uber will have such a leg up that the damage will be done.
 
Aquamarine said:
Can't WAIT for the Self-driving cars to just ferry me around with the touch of a button on my smartphone.

24 hours a day service, you tell the Google car exactly where you need to go via a map, cheap prices...it's going to be fantastic.
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this is a good 15 years off from becoming part of everyday mainstream society at the very least..and that's being optimistic.
 
Stinkles said:
Yup. On more than one occasion I have been in a cab driven by someone of a different ethnicity than pictured on the license.

Only thing consistently worse are the limo/suv hawks in NY. Once I got in and asked if he took credit cards.

Oh yes of course sir.

I have zero cash. So credit card is ok, correct?

No problem!

Get to JFK, and without looking at it, he says - oh no, credit card machine is broken.

Tough shit, I say.

I grabbed my bag and got out, fuming.

He literally chased me, so I drop my bag and say WHAT?

He says, I'll call the cops.

I point at one and say, there you are, go get him.

He peeled out.

I am still mad, three years later.
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Heh.

I remember one trip to LA for an event. Took a Yellow Cab back to LAX.

Sticker on the window says the cab takes credit cards.

Driver announces the fare, I give him my card.

He asks for cash, I tell him I don't have cash, I took the taxi because they take cards.

He asks for ID, so I humor him and show him my passport.

At that point the driver of the Yellow Cab (parked outside LAX) proceeds to tell me that a US Passport is not a "real ID" and that he can't accept my card because of it.

From there my reaction was pretty much spot on with yours Stinkles. Told him he could either run the card, or not, but if he didn't, he wasn't getting paid. And there was no tip to be had after that shit.

Warm Machine said:
It is a controlled industry. There are only enough licenses granted to meet demand to ensure that the business is sustainable and the population can get a ride. Licenses are incredibly expensive as they are limited in number. Only when a owner retires do they sell their license and when they so it serves as part of their retirement.

Other industries are license driven, like Salmon fishing boats. Only so many of those are granted and they have to operate in the rules of the industry.

That said, the taxi industry thought they were bulletproof because of these controls. Now that someone has figured out a way of decentralizing the business and existing on the fringe of legality.

As a person who has family involved in the traditional taxi business Über isn't a good thing because a traditional taxi business can't compete. Not because they can't do as good a service but because they simply are not allowed to. They can't just jam cars out there. They are restricted by the amount of cars they can even have on the road at once. They also only move at the speed of Goverment so by the time taxis are allowed to compete Uber will have such a leg up that the damage will be done.
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Except (speaking for SF), it's been the Taxi industry itself that has actively lobbied to PREVENT new medallions from being issued here in SF. For years local govt has talked about it and the taxi lobby has always been fiercely against it (even though SF has had waaaay less cabs than necessary to meet demand). When the local govt finally released some new ones a handful of years back, the taxi industry was telling everyone how it was going to "ruin" the SF taxi market and we would be "flooded with drivers" who weren't making any money.

I'm sorry, but the taxi industry brought this on itself by acting like a cartel. When the existing companies do everything that can to artificially keep supply low just so they can deliver a sub-standard product without competition, they get zero sympathy.
 
I understand supply/demand on a large scale, but I get the heebie jeebies from a company that raises prices on a micro level based on when people might most need rides.
 
It is certainly not fair that some companies/entities need to abide by a host of regulations and codes and then you have a company like Uber coming in who does whatever they want with little regulation and oversight.
 
JzeroT1437 said:
More efficient, pleasant service replaces dated, overpriced service.

Oh no
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The taxi industry got caught with their clothes off, they got wrecked. A good thing considering the very very very bad experience that it has been for decades.

Uber/etc changed the game to their favor hardcore.
 
CadetMahoney said:
Also, why do they hate taking cards?
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5 percent processing fee charged by the credit card companies.

Boston cabs all have handmade signs next to the machine explaining this and basically saying that you're a terrible person if you pay with a card.

Of course, if you ignore the sign and try to pay with a card there's a decent chance the driver will just lie and say the machine is broken. They also may just kick you out right away if you say you want to pay with a card.
 
Patryn said:
5 percent processing fee charged by the credit card companies.

Boston cabs all have handmade signs next to the machine explaining this and basically saying that you're a terrible person if you pay with a card.

Of course, if you ignore the sign and try to pay with a card there's a decent chance the driver will just lie and say the machine is broken. They also may just kick you out right away if you say you want to pay with a card.
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Never saw this or experienced that when I was in Boston.
 
All I can say is the invisible hands are at work my friends. The invisible hands are at work. Fuck yeah free market doing what it does best... destroying the old system to bulid a better one.
 
Patryn said:
5 percent processing fee charged by the credit card companies.

Boston cabs all have handmade signs next to the machine explaining this and basically saying that you're a terrible person if you pay with a card.

Of course, if you ignore the sign and try to pay with a card there's a decent chance the driver will just lie and say the machine is broken. They also may just kick you out right away if you say you want to pay with a card.
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Chicago drivers are the same. I remember getting in a cab and telling the guy immediately that I'm using a card and if he wants I'll wait till the next guy. He said it was fine.

On the way home he stops for gas. I'm like, "You gonna turn the meter off?"

"Oh yes, it is off. No worries, my friend."

Meanwhile I'm watching it tick on. So at that point I knew he wasn't getting a tip.

Gets to my destination, he announces $32 bill, I hand him my card, "Oh, machine is broken." I'm pissed cuz he specifically said he could take it. He then asks me to use the ATM next to us. I did, but I don't know why.

I give him $40 and he says he doesn't have change. So I just grabbed one of the $20s back and told him he's lucky he's getting that much and I walked.

I hate the cab industry. It can't die or be reformed soon enough, imo.
 
Cab industry sucks.

I don't feel bad. I don't like people losing their jobs but cabbies are so commonly rude and shady that it's hard to feel for them.
 
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