Taxis vs Uber

Uber, a company that provides a phone application for ride sharing, has been gaining in popularity these past few years. In a world where there seems to be an app for everything, it makes sense that consumers will be interested in replacing taxi services with something like Uber. It is far more convenient to use an app to call a taxi, handle all the payments involved with the ride and get picked up or dropped off wherever you want to. From a consumer point of view, it is almost like calling a friend and asking them to drive you somewhere for a reasonable price. 

With the rapid growth of Uber, yellow taxi services are starting to get worried that they will be replaced. As mentioned by Mr. Kalanick in the article below, "The genie is out of the bottle. I think the T.L.C knows that." With most businesses, it is common that the "lesser" or older company cannot keep up with the new technology and will eventually be replaced. Instead of trying to keep up with Uber, it seems yellow taxis and government are fighting Uber by claiming it is illegal. I have not heard any news at all that shows yellow taxis are trying to implement their own phone app or any other technology that could compete with Uber. From a consumer point of view, without any efforts from the yellow taxi service, why should I even think about riding with them if I prefer something similar to Uber?

Even though Uber may truly be illegal in certain states or cities, it really bothers me that they are working against Uber instead of embracing it. With our current generation, technology is only going to grow and change the way we normally handle many situations. By example, instead of calling a pizza place to order my pizza, I can simply go on Delivery.com and select my order and submit it within a couple minutes. Since this sort of technology is very basic, there aren't laws that are stopping Delivery.com from its continued growth. The government, if they want to have a better running society, should do its best to embrace the future and allow technology to help us move forward as a country. It is terrible that yellow taxis may not be able to keep up, but it is more their fault than Uber's fault. 

In a perfect world, I would want Uber and government officials to discuss the future of Uber and ride-sharing programs. Even though current pricing and insurance laws are strict and were created only for yellow taxi services, they can be reviewed and changed to better accommodate the future of ride-sharing. Sure, this sort of perfect world really never happens, but it would be at least nice to see both Uber and government to try. I think there could be a world where Uber and other taxi services coexist and it would be best for everyone if that can happen.