Uber vs. NYC Councilman Steve Levin

Hmmm, there seem to be a lot of opinions on this thread and I feel like I’m late to the game. But here’s my two cents.

I used to drive a yellow cab here in the city. I haven’t read every comment, but I seem to be the only one on this thread who has been involved in the industry. During the years that I drove I could see countless problems within the taxi industry and how things are run (from the drivers, to what the garages wanted, to how the public treated cabs as a service). No one ever really addressed the issues at hand. No one wanted to change. I’m not a fan of Uber mainly because the company is trying so hard to not take any responsibility for anything that happens with the drivers (from accidents to the rash of sexual assaults we’ve seen).

But I do think there is a middle ground between the two. The ease of using an app to communicate with a cab is something that should have been adopted 5 years ago. To be honest, that seems to be the only thing that people love so much about Uber. And I remember while driving there were several companies that were trying the same thing (Hailo and RideX I believe were a couple that got advertised to me). In the end Uber won the market.

Looking at this as a fight between the Taxi industry and Uber is a mistake. Thinking that “the market will sort it out” is also a mistake. The market is not a fair and balanced perpetual motion machine. When given the chance the private sector will destroy everything and anything in its path to make money, even the good stuff that you like right now. Just imagine a future where the city bus system is ending routes and trimming the number of buses and drivers because a company like Uber has cut into their business with a new ride-share service that runs along major routes in the outer boroughs.

The taxi industry is extremely bullheaded and stupid about moving into the present (not even the future). They should have been trying to develop an app years ago as a service to customers. They should also be overhauling how they license/train drivers. Me being a young college educated american was a breath of fresh air for my passengers. Back in the 60s cab driving was a viable profession for writers and artists and musicians and poets. People who needed to make money on the side. Today all those kids work in bars. And a majority of the drivers I had met while doing this job had such a bad attitude about the job and people they were servicing.

Ok, I’m getting off topic here. All I’m trying to say is don’t put all your support behind Uber. The taxi industry sucks and needs to be changed. But Uber is a private sector nightmare waiting to happen. There are already too many different kinds of cars out there. The industry is oversaturated. Every single driver is making less money than they used to. Cities need to be developing a relationship with Uber and combining systems so they have more control over the taxi ecosystem (even if that means totally dismantling the garages as we have them today).

Hey daveinbedstuy…I agree with you.

Hey Randolph….How much Uber paid you for this…? Please be honest atleast once in your life.

Well, anonlurker, I guess my next question is why would you want to engage a service that has no caps on its prices and basically “takes you for a ride” when the circumstances are in their favor? If I’m being quoted $15 for a ride from Park Slope to Clinton Hill, I want to pay that on Tuesday night or Saturday night, if it’s sunny or snowing. I would not be happy knowing that that same $15 ride will cost me $35 because Jay-Z is in town and playing at Barclays. Eff that.

What a dumb response. Seriously.