UBER MAKES CENTS
Legal or not, people are choosing to ride with Uber over more costly, less reliable, albeit regulated, taxis
THANKFULLY I don’t catch cabs very often – three times this year and on two of those three times I waited. And I waited. And I waited.t
For as long as I’ve been catching cabs there have been stories of long waits and cabs simply not turning up.
Uber has thrown a cat among the pigeons – a strawpoll on Facebook reveals many of my friends prefer Uber to taxis. They say Uber is cleaner, cheaper, more reliable and friendlier.
One told me she puts her two children in Uber cars alone and tracks their progress via GPS on her phone.
And how the cash-free payment system makes Uber ideal for small businesses who use the private cars for staff.
“The tax receipt is emailed to us direct and we can see exactly where the car picked our staff up and where it dropped them,” she said.
Others wrote they loved that Uber sends them a photograph and contact number of the driver and the app allows them to watch as the car approaches. Everybody mentioned the cleanliness.
With such reviews you’d have to wonder why isn’t the State Government embracing Uber and its promise to create 6000 jobs in Queensland?
Deputy Premier and State Transport Minister, Jacqui Trad, was on radio last week making the argument the State Government has made since Uber started operating in Queensland last year.
That is that Uber is operating illegally and doesn’t adhere to the strict industry regulations enforced on the owners of cab licences; that all it takes is a driver to turn off their mobile phone and there’s no way of tracking where the car is; that daily criminal history checks are made on licenced taxi drivers and that doesn’t happen at Uber; that small business people have invested in taxi licences, are paying taxes and abiding by the rules.
The Taxi Council is anti Uber – no surprises there. They argue Uber is cherrypicking the good parts of the taxi business and leaving the more expensive, unviable parts to the cab industry.
But at the core of this debate is the undeniable fact that Uber is offering something the travelling public want.
Every friend who has converted to Uber says the charges are cheaper than cabs.
That’s probably because Uber and its drivers don’t pay the $400,000 to $500,000 charged by the State Government for a taxi licence.
What does that money cover? In the past it’s represented
If we can acquire something better for a cheaper price then goody for us.
the right for a business owner to offer a service in a protected, government-regulated industry.
But as so many industries are discovering, digital natives show little regard for industries and businesses that don’t move with the times.
Air BNB has completely transformed the accommodation sector, allowing property owners to enter an industry previously controlled by the likes of Hilton and Sheraton.
Similarly, Urbanspoon has put the food reviewing power in the hands of restaurant goers.
Our society no time for the niceties and norms of years gone by. We want what we want and we want it now.
If we can acquire something better for a cheaper price then goody for us.
I understand the concerns of the Queensland taxi industry – there are hundreds of licence holders who have parted with millions of dollars for the right to run a taxi business.
But their gripe must be with the State Government’s seemingly exorbitant licence fees.
What do those fees cover? Where does the money go?
If it’s revenue raising at the expense of the public then, sorry, but those days are over.
Digital innovation has delivered power to the people and the people say they like Uber and will continue to use it – irrespective of what the law says.