Uber is vaporizing the taxi industry — so a new startup is raising $250 million to help cabs compete

[PoliticAverse]

Uber is crushing the taxi industry that has dominated New York City — and other cities — for so many years.

Data from the Taxi and Limousine Commission analyzed by the New York Daily News shows total trips in the first half of 2015 were down 10 percent to 77 million, compared to same period last year. Revenues from yellow cab fares have declined as well. And in July, there were 100,000 Uber trips in New York City per day, a 4x increase from last summer.

It's hard for taxis to compete with Uber, the ubiquitous car-hailing service said to be raising an additional $1 billion round of funding at a $60 to $70 billion valuation.

But a new startup called Karhoo is hoping to give taxi drivers in several cities a leg up.

Read the rest at: http://www.businessinsider.com/taxis-are-getting-vaporized-by-uber-so-a-new-startup-just-raised-250-million-to-help-cabs-compete-2015-10

[Nye Bevan]

1. Excellent. Competition is a good thing.

If old style cabs had apps that showed you where they were, showed up when they said they would, were clean and comfortable, and made payment convenient, Uber would not be destroying them.

[FrodosPet]

4. Damn near the entire transportation for hire industry is run by evil people

I would support private prisons if they promised to fill them with trucking, taxi, and Uber executives.

[Xithras]

2. They'll run into the same problem as Flywheel.

Flywheel has been doing the same thing for a while now, and there are taxi companies across the country using it. The real problem faced by Karhoo will be the same one Flywheel has been fighting...taxi companies have no interest in paying a portion of their revenue to a third party tech company in exchange for fares. Most taxi companies don't use Flywheel simply because they don't want to give up even a small percentage of their income.

[Adrahil]

5. Maybe they will change their mind as they lose more and more business...

The world is changing.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

3. Start with personal hygiene, vehicle cleanliness and a familiarity with the area you serve

Then consider listening to your dispatcher and picking up the people counting on you and not telling passengers to fuck off because they aren't going far enough or in the general direction of whatever bridge you live under.

There are tons of taxi apps, the issue is that the taxi industry treats passengers like shit and has for the last century.

[ibegurpard]

6. I don't care about the taxi industry

I care about the awful precedent set with regards to labor rights.