Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
1–10 of 49 posts
Re: Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
#2The agency...required electronic information systems in all cabs and encouraged the use of dispatching apps. Most cabs now use electronic hailing apps similar to what the ride services offer.
So it took some healthy competition from startups to get the Taxi industry to actually improve their product? Next, I'd like startups to tackle banks, insurance, hospitals, airlines, and nearly every other established industry.
Re: Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
#3The agency...required electronic information systems in all cabs and encouraged the use of dispatching apps. Most cabs now use electronic hailing apps similar to what the ride services offer. So it took some healthy competition from startups to get the Taxi industry to actually improve their product? Next, I'd like startups to tackle banks, insurance, hospitals, airlines, and nearly every other established industry.
Meanwhile, outside the Valley, across the ocean, five years ago, some regular taxi companies where I lived launched hailing apps, all on their own. No startups required. Maybe the competition was stronger?
Re: Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
#4The agency...required electronic information systems in all cabs and encouraged the use of dispatching apps. Most cabs now use electronic hailing apps similar to what the ride services offer. So it took some healthy competition from startups to get the Taxi industry to actually improve their product? Next, I'd like startups to tackle banks, insurance, hospitals, airlines, and nearly every other established industry.
Meanwhile, outside the Valley, across the ocean, five years ago, some regular taxi companies where I lived launched hailing apps, all on their own. No startups required. Maybe the competition was stronger?
But those innovative taxi companies still charged a 10% surcharge for using your credit card. Which mysteriously dropped to 5% when Uber appeared on the scene.
Re: Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
#5wait until NFC truly takes off...
Re: Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
#6Want to kill Uber and Lyft?
Require drivers to be as ADA-compliant as taxi services.
Re: Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
#7> The new companies, unlike taxi operators, have lesser insurance requirements, no restrictions on the number of vehicles they put on the streets, no clean-air standards and less-stringent background checks.
There are clean air standards for taxis? I'm not sure how well they work, since about half of the taxis I have taken recently (worldwide) have had the engine light on, indicating a likely emissions problem. Since taxis drive so much, an emissions issue on a taxi for a month is probably equivalent to a year on many private vehicles.
That said, even private vehicles have clean-air standards in any state (like mine) with emissions inspection requirements.
Re: Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
#8> Among biggest impacts of the ride services has been the drop in taxi rides taken by people in ramp taxis, which carry people in wheelchairs. As the ride services have grown and the number of cabs has diminished, so has the availability of wheelchair-accessible taxis, which are costlier to operate.
That's certainly a negative effect, but why would it result from the rise of ridesharing services? If taxi companies need to scale back the number of cars in their fleet, shouldn't they only take from the cars that aren't accessible?
Re: Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
#9> Among biggest impacts of the ride services has been the drop in taxi rides taken by people in ramp taxis, which carry people in wheelchairs. As the ride services have grown and the number of cabs has diminished, so has the availability of wheelchair-accessible taxis, which are costlier to operate. That's certainly a negative effect, but why would it result from the rise of ridesharing services? If taxi companies ne…
Yeah, you would think the taxi companies would lean more on this niche market, not less.
Re: Ride services decimate S.F. taxi industry's business
#10 no clean-air standards