What’s stopping them from switching to driving for Uber and Lyft? Whether or not those are devasting to Taxis the fact still remains those systems are superior to traditional Taxis.
That said, I disagree with the headline blaming this on the gig economy. There's lots to blame the gig economy for, but this is pretty squarely showing the flaws in the old medallion system -- that you need a crippling amount of financial debt in your name to participate in the system.
I could be misremembering though.
> Over the years, many medallions once owned by individual drivers were sold to large taxi fleets. As of 2012, about 18% of all taxis were owner operated, while the rest were leased; this is a decline from the 29% ownership rate in 2006.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_New_York_City#Logi...
For some definition of superior. For instance, Uber is for sure superior in stripping the taxi drivers of their rights.
2. Ability to share rides
3. Ability to review/report bad behavior (on both driver and customer side)—this along was a notorious problem with cab drivers. And I bet terrible customers used to be rampant too, but they were paying the drivers so nobody cared.
4. No cash. No tip (arguably more controversial thing they got rid of).
I never had to report bad behaviors, but I could just look at the taxi number, displayed clearly near the dashboard, and report it to the taxi company.
I am it that Uber can have minor advantages, but I boycott it due to the huge disadvantages in terms of worker rights.
Also they have been working at a loss to kill competitors: refusing to use Uber means defending your right to choose a service in the future.
It would be nice to see some numbers in this article to see comparable rates from all the other app services like Uber/Lyft/Via etc. I mean if it's a $10k/year pay cut .. well then just do it and take night courses to do something else more worthwhile. If it's way more than that; non-sustainable, then you're just going to have to wait for Uber to tank and prices to go back up (you might need to wait a few years).
Also, impossible for me to ring them as I'm deaf so... I have to text my wife to ring one! :( I seriously do not understand why no NZ taxi companies have banded together, raised some investment and created a good app then strengthened the market in the places that Uber etc don't exist in yet.
It's almost like they don't want to be taxis anymore.
I'm kinda surprised Uber isn't in Dunedin yet though. I know they're in Welly/Auckland .. and I suspect Chch as well.
Often Uber drivers in NZ work for a smaller taxi company and have multiple ride sharing apps on their phone.
Building apps is actually simple. I work with one of those large powerhouses and they're actually really bad at it. Smaller teams can usually do a better job.
Has nothing to do with population size.
Also, I think Uber is in CHCH and the Tron. No doubt Dunedin is in their expansion plans.