Image from Telegraph
The Uber battle rages on! As the protest from taxi drivers against the app gathers momentum worldwide, with protests held in London, Lyon, Paris, Madrid, Milan and, of course, the home of Uber – San Francisco – where cabs parked up outside their offices and lent on their horns for a while! But still, the popularity of Uber with consumers that have smartphones continues to rise, much to the taxi driver’s consternation!
Cambridge, the home of innovation, is treading the taxi fine line again. In 2012, they attempted to ban the smartphone app, without success; this week the Cambridge licensing board sat down to consider taxi rules, principally to drive Uber out of town. But for a city that prides itself on a reputation of being innovative and forward-thinking, are they not shooting themselves in the foot?
Uber’s popularity has spread significantly since its launch in 2009; it is now in use in 128 cities across 37 countries. Users are able to hail a taxi using their smartphone and via GPS, a fair fare is determined. There is a trade-off with the traditional taxi cab – Uber is not allowed to pick-up street hails but cabbies can, on the condition that they charge the city’s regulated fares. Until the smartphone started to grace more people’s pockets, this was a decent trade-off but unfortunately the tide is turning as the smartphone becomes a standard personal item. Combine that with taxi firms inability to match Uber for better services using the latest technology and it’s not surprising that protests are abound.
But surely taxi drivers have learnt something from past strikes? Fighting dirty smear campaigns, protesting and leaving your customers in the lurch isn’t exactly going to garner favour! Isn’t it time to start boxing clever? Upgrade your equipment, upgrade your service, listen to your customers and deliver what they are looking for, then you are in a much better position to fight Uber’s takeover on a more level playing ground, and stand a better chance of winning!
As for Cambridge; well, talks of banning Uber, changing the rules and any other ideas to get rid of the competition may well damage the city’s reputation far more that Uber’s!
By Oliver Derek