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The Taxi Industry May Get Overrun...

Discussion in 'News and Weather' started by simple mind, Jul 4, 2014.

  1. simple mind

    simple mind DI Forum Patron

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    This aggressive US firm has now entered the Swiss market and is threatening the taxi industry, under-cutting by 40%,
    this is the current attitude of the US business world...

    As Uber Steps Up Its Assault, Lyft And The Taxi Industry May Get Overrun

    "The speed with which this is all happening is breathtaking, but that likely explains why Uber is going for the kill now. The Washington Post ran a lengthy feature on the taxi medallion June 20. It explained how investing in the right to have a licensed cab had been the surest bet in America — until recently, when Uber came along. The story is centered in Chicago, the country’s third-largest city with 2.7 million people, and one of the 25 markets where Uber just cut its prices 25%. But its being played out across the U.S.

    Taxi drivers are finding that the flexible schedules are often better pay at Uber and Lyft make the upstarts a better place to work. And the taxi business itself is suffering as a result of the competition. In San Francisco, Hansu Kim, the president of the DeSoto Cab Company, predicted his industry could collapse within 18 months, in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner.

    That’s the real end-goal for Uber, whose outspoken CEO Travis Kalanick has made no bones about his disdain for the competition. But Kalanick won’t be content with just crushing the taxi industry. “So what is that vision?” he said to the Wall Street Journal last month. “It’s … our mission to turn ground transportation into a seamless service. Basically make car ownership a thing of the past.” To do that, he needs to convince the uninitiated that it can be cheaper and more pleasant to be driven around than to drive yourself.

    Even before the latest price cuts, Uber has taken steps to convert the newcomers. It recently began giving $30 off to first-time customers, an increase from the $10-20 it had been offering. (Lyft has been offering $25 to first timers for quite some time.) When it launches in new cities, it typically offer a period of free rides to get people hooked on the service and to build word of mouth.

    So on the one hand, Uber seems to be using a “cheaper or better than Lyft” strategy, but on the other hand, it appears to be getting more sophisticated as well. This recent price cut was clearly designed to be 25% off in all the markets where Uber rolled out it, but it’s been phased in cautiously, suggesting the company has been measuring the results to understand just how successful it would be. On June 10, it cut pricing in Seattle/Tacoma and San Diego, with 5 more cities joining over the next several days (Indianapolis, Atlanta, Phoenix, Boston and Charlotte)."

    As Uber Steps Up Its Assault, Lyft And The Taxi Industry May Get Overrun - Forbes
     
  2. muddyfeet

    muddyfeet DI Member

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    That is capitalism at its best! Poorly managed, inefficient companies are eliminated by those that are brave enough to put their money where their mouth is and do a better job. The real winner in all this is the consumer.
     
  3. Vicmico

    Vicmico DI Member

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    ...and we seem to forget that, when this so-called inefficient and overly expensive competition has been buried and Uber has achieved its goal of 100% market share, prices will go up significantly to compensate those poor investors that had to make do with a meager return on their investments. Of course the consumer will NOT be the real winner: the REAL winner(s) is/are the people that come up with those ridiculous ideas and their financial backers....

    Vicmico
     
  4. OP
    OP
    simple mind

    simple mind DI Forum Patron

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    Again, only very few see the light and think it through and see the obvious outcome, sad but true...
     
  5. muddyfeet

    muddyfeet DI Member

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    And some are so cynical they can't see good in anything.
     
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