Uber, taxi giant Mears ready to launch partnership
As Mears and Uber get ready to launch a first-of-its-kind partnership in the United States, drivers have one central question: Can the two former foes work together for the benefit of both groups?
Some drivers on the ride-sharing platform wonder if the deal with Mears will steal passengers from existing Uber drivers, increase rates for passengers or scare away those that prefer Uber drivers over taxi employees.
In the new partnership announced Monday, Mears’ fleet of luxury vehicles will be available beginning next week on the Uber app in an upscale option for Orlando users called UberBlack. By the end of the year, the rest of Mears’ taxi fleet will also be bookable on Uber through UberTaxi. The partnership signals the first time that Uber has joined together with a taxi company, not individual drivers, to bring them on the app, differentiating it from the UberBlack and UberTaxi options available in other U.S. markets.
The partnership is a win-win, Uber and Mears argue, because the two will be able to offer passengers more options and a more convenient experience.
“We are providing supply and Uber is providing distribution,” said Mears Executive Chairman Trey White at a press conference Monday.
But drivers, riders and the industry are watching to see whether those promises will bear fruit.
“I’d bet there is a small avalanche of emails at Mears today from colleagues from around the country wanting to know more about how this will work,” said John Boit, a spokesman for the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association, a trade group that represents fleet operators and lobbies on behalf of its members. “The whole industry will be watching to see if this is beneficial to professional fleet operators. And if that happens, then this could be a model that like-minded operators could follow.”
Tom O’Neil, a Mears driver from Celebration who used to drive for Uber, too, says he sees the benefits for both companies.
“When it’s slow, Mears drivers will be able to grab some of the Uber rides. For Uber, it [may] bring regular Uber driver rates up a little bit,” closer to taxi rates, O’Neil said. Though Uber and Mears have not yet finalized the pricing structure for the UberTaxi roll out later this year, it will be consistent with taxi rates, the companies said.
“They are both beating each other up,” O’Neil said. “So join forces.”
But some Uber drivers are worried that the added chauffeurs on the platform will cut into demand.
Longwood-based Uber driver Joe Hull, who has been driving for Uber for three years, said there are already more drivers during the holiday season. And if rates rise because of the partnership, he may switch over entirely to competing ride-share company Lyft.
“It would make me more of a Lyft driver. I don’t mean that because it will be necessarily my choice, [but] I think riders will choose that more because I hear that already as an Uber driver,” Hull said.
Uber driver Drew Richardson said he also believes the eventual integration of taxi cabs on the app will take business away from UberX — the most affordable Uber service.
“If you’re at the airport or at a hotel, you don’t have to wait and wonder who’s coming and what because the [taxis] are usually sitting right there in front of you and you know they are going to be Mears — it’s not going to be one of the raggedy rag companies,” said Richardson, who lives in Windermere and runs his own business, WhiteCar.
And what about the integration of two seemingly divergent models, wonders Nick Smith, an Orange County firefighter who drives for Uber and Lyft part-time.
“Especially with a lot of the millennials ...they look at taxis as being old technology,” Smith said.
But some passengers may still prefer Mears because of the background checking process for drivers, who will be screened twice — through Uber and Mears — said Hull. “They may feel safer in the taxi if they have a choice now,” he said.
Ultimately, the set up could have benefits for both companies, the drivers said, but only if the two companies can find a way to work together without giving one an advantage over the other.
“It’s a good thing for Mears,” Hull said, “but also a good for Uber because they are going to get a bite out of that fare.”
A new group has stepped in to take over the former spot of neighborhood market and eatery Handy Pantry near downtown Orlando.
Sean Kelly, owner of Henry’s Depot project in Sanford, and Shaun Noonan of Dixie Dharma and Market on South, plan to turn the former Handy Pantry space into a new concept called Eola General.
The Handy Pantry closed in September after years of financial struggles and illness made operating the establishment tough on owners Dev and Arati Rai. They ran the shop for 17 years, serving coffee, breakfast and sandwiches and selling a handful of grocery items. It was the kind of throwback neighborhood market that the nearby community rallied around, but it couldn’t quite survive.
Now Kelly and Noonan are stepping in after seeing the affinity neighbors had for the shop at 522 E. Amelia St. in Orlando.
They hope to open the shop by the end of the year.
“We’ll be sticking with the neighborhood tradition of a convenience store, with our own take on it,” said Kelly said. “Our goal is to open a modern general store, with more emphasis on quality products from local small biz vendors, while still offering the same accessibility and convenience that our beloved Handy Pantry did.”
EolaGeneralwillalsoofferbreakfast, lunch and dinner. They are still working with a food vendor to take a spot in the shop.
The shop will also sell a selection of beer and household goods.
There will be a few changes: later hours, a patio and vegan options will be introduced with the help of Noonan, whose Dixie Dharma is a vegan eatery.
“It’s a neighborhood gem and we wanted to help keep it alive rather than have it replaced by townhouses or something that our neighbors wouldn’t be able to enjoy and be proud of,” Kelly said.