In a blog post earlier this week, one of our classmates discussed the fact that Uber is currently having trouble in New York because the state wants to try to place its “taxi laws” and enforce them on Uber drivers. However, there is another thorn in Uber’s side currently and its becoming a bigger problem for the transportation giants.
Four of the next leading transportation companies have announced that they have all partnered together in potentially the next transportation conglomerate. Lyft, DiDi, Ola and GrabTaxi have announced they will all partner together. These four companies together have equalled Ubers gross product since its introduction so it will be interesting to see how Uber handles this newfound competition.
The company also has ideas of expanding beyond the United States, as many of these companies have an international background as DiDi is the leading Chinese taxi service and Ola has a similar presence in India.
These four taxi services will be joining forces hoping to take on Uber in the near future
Link to story: http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/03/technology/uber-rivals-lyft-didi-kuadi/index.html
It was thought that Uber was going to almost monopolize this area as they were growing exponentially while others were staying the same or having to cut back due to the loss of customers. By changing the ways other taxi services are run will allow them to stay afloat keeping fairs at a reasonable price. this benefits the people who use these services as once a monopoly is created the customer will suffer as the fairs will be anything they want and people will have nowhere else to turn because they are the only option.
The fact that the other Taxi services are starting to adapt to Uber’s business model is a very good thing. Not only will it keep fares low it will also keep market share relatively equal, which is good for business. I personally don’t think Uber will ever be able to completely oust traditional taxi services from big cities because not all people don’t want to have to arrange a cab. They want to be able to walk into the straight and wave down a cab the classic way. Although Uber’s presence will continue to climb, it won’t be able to fully replace normal cabs.
I think that the fact that Uber’s competitors are gaining traction can only be positive for end consumers. Uber started as an incredibly convenient and affordable service. However, as its dominance in the marketplace continued to increase their fares seemed to grow at an equal pace. I feel that by gaining more competition, we will see a dip in fares which is always a good thing for its users. In addition, we may see an expansion into rewards programs, much like hotels and airlines currently use.
It will also be interesting to see if traditional taxis continue to become antiqued or if they finally realized that their practices must be overhauled in order to exist in such a dynamic industry.
This is great news for college students and young professionals everywhere. Uber has won our service for the last few years simply because it is easy to use. NOT because of their prices. Uber is expensive. As a driver, you make a lot more money than one might expect. This will all change if this new company can actually put together a competitive business plan against Uber. If the new company offers lower prices, I think young people will be quick to switch taxi services. I personally do not have any brand loyalty toward Uber. It simply is the most convenient at this time. If I can get a ride home for 5 dollars less I will do it every single time. The new company needs to be sure to make their platform as easy to use as Uber. That probably means a lot of initial investment to fund the project in the short term. That being said, there is not too much competition in this space, and I think the United States can support at least two major players in the taxi space. Therefore, the initial investment should really pay off if done correctly. As a poor college student, I really hope that this company can provide some competition. The business model is a really great one but the industry simple lacks competition. It is certainly time for a change.
I feel that it was only a matter of time till Uber found a competitor that could threaten its market share. Although the taxi industry has been prevalent in the United States since cars were made, Uber revolutionized how people traveled to their destination. Althought lyft has tried to break ground in the same market, it seemed that Uber was much more powerful and had more brand recognition. With this new partnership between all of these companies, we may see that lyft has more of a presence not only within the United States, but also internationally. As the article detailed, the companies that Lyft has partnered with have strong holdings internationally, so they could experience increased growth.
Finally, competition!!!! It’s about time the taxi services actually attempted to do something about this on their own instead of running to big brother to complain. The government attempting to ban a new business, in my opinion, should just be flat out illegal. How could halting the growth of an industry, especially in these times, be a good thing. I could not care less who actually wins this , as I picture, and old western style shootout, but it will be interesting to watch. Eventually the taxi industry will have to revamp its whole business model because it is simply a sheer waste of time and manpower to have drivers driving around a city to look for potential clients when nearly everyone has access to a smartphone. I understand that many people call for taxis now but in crowded cities you will see drivers simply driving around looking for someone who could need a ride. With the technology we have now this way of doing things is getting old at an increasingly fast rate. So I am glad to see the taxi industry is retaliating in a business fashion.
Its Interesting that you mention the fact that Uber rivals are getting stronger, I completely agree. In a key market such as New York. There is a particularly popular app that is gaining a lot of popularity with customers, The name of the app is GETT. One of the tag lines they use , quite literally to poke Uber in the eye is ‘ Subjectively speaking, we are objectively better than UBER’ . Which it turns out that they are, you can select the model of your car that you want to be picked up from and it turns out it actually costs less than Uber does. A person tested Uber and Gett to get from one location to another, he first used Uber and the service was good and it costed $29, whereas he went back to the same location and ordered a taxi for the same destination with the Gett App and he was surprised to find out that the cost was just $11 , with Gett which is quite literally one – third of what Uber costed him. This particular app is free and you can download it on your Iphone or android, so i suggest you definitely check it out. Its established itself in several cities- chicago, Boston, london and many more.
I have never taken a taxi or any new form of a taxi until this year. My roommates and I live very off campus so we wanted a ride to the football game. My roommate was able to order a driver to our apartment and was able to track the car as it was getting closer. I think that this is such a good piece technology. I think how Uber and all these other car services are so much more practical and efficient than regular taxi service. I think that in bigger cities like New York, it is harder for one service to claim its territory. Here in State College it is clear that Uber is the reigning king. However, I feel like in large cities like New York, there will never be a clear favorite.