According to a Wall Stree Journal article, Uber is valued at over $50 billion, making it the leading rideshare app company (with Lyft coming in second).
With these kinds of dollar figures, many may be thinking the taxi industry is doomed to fail. However, this isn’t necessarily the case.
At least not in ‘The City That Never Sleeps.’ In fact, in April 2016, taxis made roughly 11.1 million trips in New York City. Which, breaking it down per day, comes out to approximately 400,000 daily trips.
This may surprise some people, but guess how the taxi industry compares to Uber?…
It looks like people still prefer the yellow cabbie, as Uber only made 4.7 million trips. In other words, more than two times fewer trips as taxis.
However, that’s not all…
Read on to find out how the taxi industry is continuing to evolve as rideshare apps prove they’re here to stay.
Numbers don’t lie
So, while April 2016 proved to be a good month and year for the taxi industry. It still suffered a near 10% yearly decline. Uber, on the other hand, increased by 121% in the year.
These types of numbers are forcing the cab industry to evolve, as it’s only a matter of time before the San Francisco startup catches up (and potentially surpasses).
Taxi industry turns to mobile apps
So what has the cab industry done to ensure it stays in the game? Several taxi apps have sprung up to compete with Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing apps. One prominent taxi app that CNN Money features is called Taxi Magic.
Taxi Magic helps you hail taxis. This makes hailing a cab much easier, as you only need to press a few buttons. Perhaps the cab industry’s numbers will increase since this is one of the problems people have with taxi cabs.
There are international taxi apps too
And, these taxi apps are not just popping up in the US. There are several taxi apps in India such as Taxi for Sure and KolTaxi. Not to mention, 9211, a taxi app that’s named after a famous Bollywood movie where the cab has those four digits on its license plate.
What’s in the cab industry’s favor?
Because a lot of these taxi apps are fairly new, it’s still too soon to see how they’ll affect the ridesharing app industry. Much less Uber.
Even aside from this, the cabs have some brownie points versus Uber. Here’s what’s going against Uber:
- Security of your account (there have been some hacking instances)
- Changing regional regulations
- Customers banned due to negative reviews
- Some sketchy drivers due to questionable background checks
The latter is especially concerning; several sexual assault allegations have come out citing Uber drivers. The Uber app in India, in fact, (sadly) now has an “SOS” button so passengers can alert local authorities.
Uber suspended or banned in some cities and states
Plus, currently Uber is suspended or banned in these states and cities in the US:
Full Ban:
- Eugene, Oregon
- Nevada
Suspended:
- Anchorage, Arkansas
- Portland, Oregon
- San Antonio, Texas
- Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- Panama City Beach, Florida
- Auburn, Alabama
Some states and cities, such as Nevada, state that Uber doesn’t follow the state regulation involving state licensing requirements; something taxis have to comply with.
As for the future, we’ll see how the cab industry fares. For now, they’re not doing too bad.
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