EDIT-OPED Grow up, Uber EDITORIAL Once upon a time, and not so long ago, Uber was a scrappy startup connecting people to cars through a slick smartphone app. After a year of explosive growth, the company and New Yorkers must awaken to a new reality: Uber is now the single most powerful player in New York City transportation not spelled MTA. The upstart has become the establishment. Think Cablevision or Con Ed, but with rolling stock on asphalt. The year about to close marked an unprecedented 12 months of growth for on-call black cars -- from 10,000 to 20,000-plus. Uber drove the increase: Its fleet, 12,170 strong, will soon eclipse the citys 13,587 yellow cabs in number. Wow. Obviously, the $40 billion company is doing something right. Obviously, its meeting the needs of New Yorkers, tourists and drivers, all of whom are abandoning yellow and traditional for-hire liveries. Just as obviously, Ubers dominance demands better behavior -- because Uber has often acted with the who-gives-a-damn arrogance of a hightech insurgent rather than with the responsibility demanded of a common carrier. Unless the company starts responding to legitimate concerns and stops fighting the most minimal oversight, New Yorks regulatory zealots will demand that Uber play by all the rules that govern the citys weakening fleet of yellow cabs. For example: Why must yellow cabs have bulletproof partitions but not Uber cars? Or why must half of all yellow taxis accommodate wheelchairs by 2020, but not any Uber cars? Reasonable regulation starts with understanding the scope and nature of Ubers service. Beginning in the new year, the company is to provide the Taxi and Limousine Commission with the barest information on where and when their trips start (but not destinations or fares) -- a fair requirement Uber resisted. Some Uber users have accused drivers of refusing to pick them up; and some passengers have claimed drivers took circuitous routes that ended in exorbitant bills. When riders do have a bone to pick, its damn near impossible to track down a human being to help them. Just Wednesday, Uber added a $2 fee to those seeking to hail a regular yellow cab through its app, disingenuously claiming the sum was on behalf of drivers (who get none of it). Then there was the imposition of surge pricing -- which boosts fares at times of high demand -- on people trying to use Uber to leave the besieged center of Sydney, Australia, when it was locked down by an ISIS hostage crisis. (Uber backed down and offered free rides, while blaming a computer program.) Last month, Senior Vice President Emil Michael creepily suggested exposing the personal lives of journalists who probed the company. There are also fears, aired most pointedly by Sen. Al Franken, about Ubers collection of vast amounts of customer data. The company says it has rolled back employee access to a so-called God view of all its car trips after Ubers New York general manager used the capacity to track a journalist who was late to a meeting. Still more worrisome, drivers, including one in New Delhi and another in Boston, have been accused of raping customers -- raising questions about the companys background checks. Here in New York City, Ubers drivers are subjected to the same background checks as all other black-car and yellow-cab drivers, but elsewhere, its checks may be insufficient. The range of choice in cars-for-hire is a brilliant new reality that, broadly, is improving service. Some squeaky anti-Uber wheels are just people who profited from the way things used to be. But sooner or later, if the behemoth keeps growing, and refuses to clean up its act, you can be sure: Uber will face uber-regulations. Shared from NYDailyNews iPad app Sent from my iPad This e-mail message may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient(s), or the employee or agent responsible for delivery of this message to the intended recipient(s), you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this e-mail message from your computer. IRS CIRCULAR 230 DISCLOSURE: To ensure compliance with Treasury Department regulations, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this correspondence (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 15:50:22 +0000
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