As commercial ridesharing becomes more popular, it's eating into the business of traditional cab companies. Licensed cabbies are being replaced by part-time, unlicensed drivers using their own cars to make extra money. Hundreds of taxi drivers protested last week at Los Angeles City Hall against Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, what they all “bandit cabs” that use apps to find passengers and don't have special licenses or insurance coverage. Yesterday, London cab drivers brought gridlock to the center of that city. Is mobile technology spawning a mobile black market or is ridesharing the wave of the future?
Uber, "Big Taxi" and the Sharing Economy
More
- NBC News video on Uber's insurance, background screening process
- Greeley on London cab drivers' Uber protest
- Sundararajan on Uber, 'the Amazon effect'
- Sundararajan on Uber's safety fee
- CPUC overview of limousine and transportation network company regulations
- CPUC investigations result in enforcement actions and fines imposed on limousines, shuttles, bus companies
Credits
Guests:
- William Rouse - Yellow Cab of Los Angeles - @LAYellowCab
- Arun Sundararajan - New York University - @digitalarun
- Brendan Greeley - Bloomberg BusinessWeek - @bhgreeley