“After My Very First Night, I Knew I Would Never Drive a Taxi Again”
Now, when I stopped seeing the world through a cab driver’s eyes, I immediately recognized that this was a better system; not just for the passengers, but for me too.
For one, there would be no more mind-numbing waiting around to go to work. In fact, I often got my first ride as I pulled out of my driveway. No longer did I have to apologize for, or worry about, a dirty, smelly, mechanically unsound vehicle. This was my car; it was clean, everything worked as it should, and people were far more likely to treat it that way. If they didn’t, they knew they’d be charged for the cleaning, or for the repairs. There was accountability now, which kept everyone on their best behavior, even me. My passengers were inquisitive, not standoffish, nor suspicious of every turn that I made, and they usually felt more like friends than customers. Best of all, it was fun.
.. There are currently 1,900 taxicabs operating in San Francisco, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Meanwhile, last January, Uber claimed to have over 11,000 active drivers in the city — 11,000!
.. Another area in which Lyft and Uber had surpassed the taxi model was efficiency. Immediately, I found that they almost always kept me busy.
.. Something else I liked was that the rideshare model was color blind. It would be near impossible for a customer to be passed over due to their race, ethnicity, or sexuality — at least not without repercussions.