In some cities, ridesharing services like Lyft, Sidecar, and Uber are just starting to take hold. But in San Francisco, they’re already clobbering the taxi industry. The president of DeSoto Cab Co., one of the biggest cab companies in the city, said in a recent interview that he would be surprised if San Francisco’s cab industry survives another 18 months.
The warning was published in a San Francisco Examiner article about the retirement of Chris Hayashi, the head of SF’s taxi industry. She said an interview with the Examiner that she’s retiring because she’s ready and not because “Travis [Kalanick, founder and CEO of Uber] has kicked my ass.”
If the cab companies want to remain viable, they need to stop the heavy-handed approach and adapt to their new competitors. It is already happening in some cities (including here in Los Angeles), where cab companies have partnered with an app that mimics Uber’s.
Los Angeles tried to shut down the alternative services and it didn’t work. Uber and Lyft are presently ignoring the state of Virginia’s order.
If you don’t want to get run over, do your job better. Welcome to capitalism.
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