Atlanta and New Orleans Mayors Pick Uber to Win in Fight with Traditional Taxis

DMVs and taxi unions nationwide have been
attacking Uber over the past several months, accusing the
peer-to-peer ridesharing service of being unsafe and unfair to the
taxi business. The D.C. Taxi Operators Association
held a protest in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, blocking the
traffic downtown for a few hours. Virginia’s DMV issued a
cease-and-desist letter to Uber and Lyft earlier this month, and
has
ticketed five Uber drivers since then. Protests against Uber
have
swept European countries in recent weeks. Despite
this widespread opposition, some notable public officials have
voiced their support for Uber and think that the innovative
business will eventually win the battle against taxis.

Kasim Reed, the mayor of Atlanta, recently
told Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic that though
Uber might be in for a “15 round right” with the taxi industry, he
thinks the company will eventually win. He also suggested that this
doesn’t necessarily mean traditional taxis will be completely
phased out by the modernized ridesharing services, but they may
just be forced to innovate to continue to compete. He
said: 

“But in the interim, they’re going to flat out fight it out, and
mayors are going to be in the middle of it, because the taxicab
industry is so old and staid and never had real competition, and
now it’s being forced to innovate.”

The mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu, also thinks Uber will
eventually win out in the battle against the antiquated taxi
business: 

“I think at the end of the day Uber is going to win. I think
that their technology model is superior. I think their political
skills need some work, if I might.”

The Washington Post reported
that Chicago’s department of Business Affairs and Consumer
Protection receives 12,000 complaints about taxis every year, which
comes out to 33 a day. Uber has a built-in system to overcome these
shortcomings and ensure accountability of its drivers—both the
driver and the passenger are given a rating of 1 through 5 after
every ride. If an Uber driver or a passenger gets out of line on
too many occasions and gets low ratings, they are booted from the
service. 

New York, like many other states, has had a long battle with
Uber and the sharing economy. Despite this, the former commissioner
of the New York City Department of Transportation, Janette
Sadik-Khan, also told Friedersdorf that she was partial to
innovative peer-to-peer services:

“I do think that the shared economy is here to stay. That train
has left the station. It is happening.”