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In São Paulo, where I live, taxi apps appeared a couple of years before Uber entering the market. It took the market by storm, so every single cab had to be in
by soneca 10y ago
In São Paulo, where I live, taxi apps appeared a couple of years before Uber entering the market. It took the market by storm, so every single cab had to be in at least one the two major apps (Easytaxi and 99taxi).
It was easy, fast and safe to call a cab anytime. But it was still expensive.
Uber came with its black cars. No one bothered. But Uber came with UberX and then Uber pool. It was a revolution, 50% cheaper. It exploded. The taxi market was/is dominated by corruption, with its medallions monopoly. Capitalism worked.
But capitalism dont stop working when Uber is winning. Now the taxi apps, specially the rebranded 99, that was the clear winner in the taxi apps fight raised hundreds of millions with the chinese and is ready to fight Uber. They now have regular taxi, a 30% discount taxi (that usually matches Uber price) and a Uber-like service with common people cars, all in the same app.
My social network mostly went back to using taxi, now that the price matches, because SP is not an easy city to transit. Uber drivers rely 100% on Waze/Google Maps. This ofyen leads to errors. Taxi drivers who drive around for years, sometimes decades are more reliable.
My point being: I dont believe in karma, but capitalism is a bitch. If you are that arrogant to mismanage that bad your resources when you are winning, when the market forces strike back, you wont be strong enough to stand on your feet.
- m0zzie 10y agoWe are seeing the exact same thing here in Australia. An app called GoCatch which was a taxis-only app for around 5 years but moved into the ride share market last year. It used to be very difficult to get one of their cars in Sydney, but now I can get one most times I try. Many people seem to like the idea of a locally-owned company versus the tax-dodging (in their eyes) juggernaut from overseas.
- rstuart4133 10y agoSo GoCatch works well now? I must give it another go. There is very little price difference between Taxi's and Uber here, and recently the Taxi companies have changed their tune from "it's all so unfair" to "we can and will adapt and compete". Interesting times ...
- m0zzie 10y agoYeah I'd say it's significantly better than it was 6 months ago. It's my go-to every time now. Very occasionally still get a driver that isn't great (no different to Uber) but I just rate them and move along. I do still have an active Uber account but to be honest I guess I fall into the category of trying to support the local guys, so I aim to exclusively use GC and just use Uber when I'm in a bind (ie. no GC private cars or taxis around)
- vertis 10y agoJust loaded up GoCatch for the first time in Melbourne (Flemington) there are taxis around for me, but no private cars. Will give it a shot next time I actually need to go somewhere by Taxi.
- voltagex_ 10y agoGoCatch seemed to me to be a response to pretty terrible taxi dispatch. Slowly, at least where I live, the dispatches for companies are being merged and centralised, often to places far away. One of the cab companies here has moved away from the Windows Mobile (?) based terminal to just issuing a phone/tablet with an app that looks like it's from about 2001, but the drivers seem to like it.
- azernik 10y agoMy take? Uber and Lyft themselves are a response to pretty terrible taxi dispatch. (And, in certain parts of the US, to policies like medallions that impose a supply cap on taxicabs.) Most places I know of that have a free-ish market for cab rides (Israel, Australia, etc.) have local cab-hailing apps with similar interfaces to Uber that have outcompeted it in the local market.
- lordnacho 10y agoIgnoring all the bad press they've gotten lately, this is a major issue in their business model. I just don't see why the cab business should present an opportunity that requires a landgrab on a global scale. Something like Facebook, sure. You need to be the social network with everyone on it. A cab company? It doesn't sound like it matters whether it's Uber or some local competitor. Internet is going to be cheap most places, so anyone arriving anywhere can just download the local app as needed.
- soneca 10y agoAnd international travelers are not that big of a customer base. There is no barrier to entry in this market. This is why laws like 'medallions' (and following corruption) were created in the first place to protect the monopoly and interests of the first cab drivers. This monopoly has led to a mix of expensive prices, poor service and unsafe conditions (with every place having its own local flavor of its mix - in SP is basically just the expensive price; in Rio de Janeiro is mostly the other two). Uber found an innovative way of breaking this monopoly. But... without creating any other barrier except money to keep its prices artificially low. But cheap money doesn't last forever. And Uber is not the only company with access to money in the world. As soon as the competitors stop fighting Uber in the court or in the town halls and start fighting back in the market, Uber's business flaws will show up.