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The Uber revolution is just beginning, and no cabbie protest can stop it The Uber revolution is just beginning, and no cabbie protest can stop it
(2 months later)
Taxi drivers went on Taxi drivers went on strike for a day in several European cities on Wednesday, leading, apparently, to "traffic chaos" from London to Berlin and Paris to Madrid. Here in Barcelona, I barely noticed – largely because my hotel is a 10-minute walk from the conference where I'm speaking, and especially because the city's public mass transit system is superb. And so the mass anti-Uber protest was meaningless.
strike for a day in several European cities on Wednesday, leading, apparently, to "traffic chaos" from London to Berlin and Paris to Madrid. Here in Barcelona, I barely noticed – largely because my hotel A fellow attendee did notice a jam, however, when he queued up for a bus after arriving Wednesday evening from Italy. Taxis weren't picking up customers, but they were circling around the arrivals area, horns honking, just to make their point.
is a 10-minute walk from the conference where I'm speaking, and especially because the city's public mass
transit system is superb. And so the mass anti-Uber protest was meaningless.
A fellow attendee did notice a jam, however, when
he queued up for a bus after arriving Wednesday evening from Italy. Taxis
weren't picking up customers, but they were circling around the arrivals area,
horns honking, just to make their point.
Cabbies hate Uber, the California-based company that lets people become unlicensed taxi drivers using their own cars. Of course they do: one start-up (or several competitors) could shatter cab cartels across the globe. But Uber has more ambitious goals than just traffic and taxi disruption: its antagonistic executives are plainly viewing a company now valued at $18b by its giddy investors as the key player in a global logistics marketplace that it's helping to create.Cabbies hate Uber, the California-based company that lets people become unlicensed taxi drivers using their own cars. Of course they do: one start-up (or several competitors) could shatter cab cartels across the globe. But Uber has more ambitious goals than just traffic and taxi disruption: its antagonistic executives are plainly viewing a company now valued at $18b by its giddy investors as the key player in a global logistics marketplace that it's helping to create.
Maybe the plan will work, and Uber and its brethren in the so-called (and grossly misnamed) "sharing economy" like Airbnb will prove worth their skyrocketing valuations. It's early yet, with the full force of entrenched interests just now arriving. (Barcelona's cab drivers, for instance, have persuaded the regional government to tell Uber to cease its operations here.) But the logic Maybe the plan will work, and Uber and its brethren in the so-called (and grossly misnamed) "sharing economy" like Airbnb will prove worth their skyrocketing valuations. It's early yet, with the full force of entrenched interests just now arriving. (Barcelona's cab drivers, for instance, have persuaded the regional government to tell Uber to cease its operations here.) But the logic of peer-to-peer disruption is inescapable – and inevitable. Now we just need to make it work.
of peer-to-peer disruption is inescapable – and inevitable. Now we just need to make it work.
It's simple, really: people can save money using these services. They can also make some money by turning around and providing the services themselves, using their own homes, cars and other property to bring back, little by little, a withering global middle class.It's simple, really: people can save money using these services. They can also make some money by turning around and providing the services themselves, using their own homes, cars and other property to bring back, little by little, a withering global middle class.
We We are running out of natural resources that we can extract at sufficiently low costs. We are on the verge, via human-fueled climate change, of making the planet unfriendly to humans. Any rational economy of the future will surely be based, in a major way, on more and more efficient use of existing infrastructure – rather than a traditional, growth-based cycle of endless manufacturing, building and mindless consuming.
are running out of natural resources that we can extract at sufficiently low costs. A peer-to-peer economy isn't about sharing as much as collaborating, ad hoc, to create mass efficiencies. One of its most interesting aspects, as it grows, will be the way its participants see the physical parts of the transactions – the apartments, the Priuses, the corner milk run – as more attractive as they're more well maintained and executed. Will we collectively take better care of things, or will this commons be wrecked by the jerks who don't care, like the dregs-of-society unmoderated comment sections?
We are on the verge, via human-fueled climate change, of making the planet unfriendly
to humans. Any rational economy of the future will surely be based, in a major
way, on more and more efficient use of existing infrastructure – rather than a
traditional, growth-based cycle of endless manufacturing, building and mindless
consuming.
A peer-to-peer economy isn't about sharing
as much as collaborating, ad hoc, to create mass efficiencies. One of its most
interesting aspects, as it grows, will be the way its participants see the
physical parts of the transactions – the apartments, the Priuses, the corner milk run – as more attractive as they're more well maintained and executed. Will we collectively
take better care of things, or will this commons be wrecked by the jerks who
don't care, like the dregs-of-society unmoderated comment sections?
I'm betting on good will and a cheap, clean weekend rental, but Uber CEOTravis Kalanick might be risking investors' bet on him by making sportof "surge pricing". Those fare hikes when people actually need something could come back to bite him – not because charging what the market will bear is a bad idea (it's by far the most efficient system), but because a quadruple-price ride during, say, a natural disaster would offend anyone's sense of commercial fair play. In a market that worked the right way, offensively high pricing would simply encourage more rides from Uber competitors like Lyft or your local black-car service.I'm betting on good will and a cheap, clean weekend rental, but Uber CEOTravis Kalanick might be risking investors' bet on him by making sportof "surge pricing". Those fare hikes when people actually need something could come back to bite him – not because charging what the market will bear is a bad idea (it's by far the most efficient system), but because a quadruple-price ride during, say, a natural disaster would offend anyone's sense of commercial fair play. In a market that worked the right way, offensively high pricing would simply encourage more rides from Uber competitors like Lyft or your local black-car service.
The other main reason the Uber revolution might not take off, of The other main reason the Uber revolution might not take off, of course, is the ability of the old-school businesses to force regulation – or bans – on Silicon Valley competition. Taxi regulation makes some sense, but only in limited ways. It's entirely reasonable, for example, that a city or region would require all cabbies picking up passengers at an airport to charge the same fares. And it's reasonable to require excellent insurance coverage. It's a lot less reasonable to sharply limit the number of taxis in order to keep fares artificially high, which many places do in a cartel arrangement with taxi companies.
course, is the ability of the old-school businesses to force Uber, Airbnb and the other players in the gray zone between traditionally regulation and none at all shouldn't be able to escape responsibility for doing business in a fair way. They shouldn't be able to avoid collecting taxes, either – that's just unfair.
regulation – or bans – on Silicon Valley competition. Taxi regulation makes some sense, but But the peer-to-peer economy is coming, no matter how the short-term battles turn out. We should welcome it, traffic jams and all.
only in limited ways. It's entirely reasonable, for example, that a city or
region would require all cabbies picking up passengers at an airport to charge the same
fares. And it's reasonable to require excellent insurance coverage. It's a lot
less reasonable to sharply limit the number of taxis in order to keep fares
artificially high, which many places do in a cartel arrangement with taxi
companies.
Uber, Airbnb and the other players in the
gray zone between traditionally regulation and none at all
shouldn't be able to escape responsibility for doing business in a fair way. They
shouldn't be able to avoid collecting taxes, either – that's just unfair.
But the peer-to-peer economy is coming, no
matter how the short-term battles turn out. We should welcome it, traffic jams and all.