UBER FOR EVERYTHING
The on-demand model has spawned a legion of imitators, apps that offer anything from laundry to babysitting,
As a Toronto-based user of the Internet, I used to feel I was experiencing its effects as readily as someone in Tangiers or Tel Aviv. Isn’t that the whole point of the web — that it’s worldwide?
Then I found myself on a street corner in San Francisco, trying, and failing, to hail a taxi.
I was visiting the Bay Area for a story on artificial intelligence and found myself late for an interview. No problem, I thought: plenty of cabs on Valencia St.
But sticking my hand in the air seemed to have no discernible effect on any of them. I stood there reddening by the minute. I felt like a ship captain marooned in the wrong cen- tury, frantically trying to communicate via a system of coloured flags.
Right, I thought. This is San Francisco. I pulled out my phone and downloaded Uber.
I had followed all the cheers and jeers directed at the company as part of my job. But I hadn’t bothered to try the app. A recent poll found that only 17 per cent of Torontonians have used it, in fact (though threequarters want it to stay). Uber just doesn’t feel that vital in Toronto: you can get around pretty well without downloading it, or even knowing what it is.
Not so in San Francisco. Just minutes earlier, I had overheard two separate conversations about UberPool, a trial carpooling version of the service.
At every company I visited, from giants like Google to tiny startups, someone always mentioned Uber. The tech capital of the world seemed collectively obsessed.
On Valencia St., I started to understand why. Watching the virtual car icon beetle its way towards me was intensely satisfying. When we arrived at Market St. I just hopped out and walked away. It felt seamless and a little magical, the way good technology should.
At the same time, the more I used it, the more entitled I felt. The ondemand economy would seem to facilitate income inequality: a small group of financially comfortable users tap a button for whatever it is they want, and a growing swarm of financially insecure providers are there to get it for them. Companies such as Victor, a web- and mobilebased private jet service that advertises its accommodations for dogs — “the best possible solution for your treasured pet to travel in style” — don’t help dissuade anyone from that view.
I find it easy to see why people love Uber, and easy to see why people hate it. What seems inarguable is Uber’s relentless expansion. As mayorelect, John Tory said Uber and services like it are “here to stay.” After I saw all the things San Franciscans order up through their smartphones — lunch, laundry, doctors — my return to Toronto felt a bit like going back in time.
Whether that’s good or bad is not for me to say.