Uber in our cities
This is what happens when disruption hits the old foundations of the transportation system.
The first big and massive protest of taxi drivers in Santiago was held in March 23, 2016. Horns filled the air and the Operational Traffic Control Unit reported that the mobilization generated serious jams, at various points in the capital. The reason? The emergence of online transportation networks like Uber and Cabify.
The situation is new for Chile, but not for countries like France, Germany or India, where protests have been taking place for the last couple of years.
In social media and in face to face conversations, people started to complain about their bad experiences with the regular taxi system (I did that too). And those who had used Uber or Cabify praised their attributes.
But for now Chile doesn’t have a clear regulation for the service provided by this apps. And the union of taxi drivers is demanding more control and fines, while they keep protesting in the streets.
This is what I saw on Tuesday, May 2, 2016 in the Alameda, Santiago’s main avenue.
After I posted the video on our Connecting Cities WhatsApp group, I asked about their experiences or knowledge regarding this subject. And a good conversation started. I selected a few quotes of other cities experiences with this sort of applications vs. the traditional transportation system.
Betty Tsakarestou from Athens, Greece: “Uber whenever enters a market taxi drivers and companies protest. In Athens Uber has mot managed to outperform the Greek startup Taxibeat, also operating in Peru. It launched back in 2011. Lots of sabbotage and legal action were taken by taxi companies. We had such protests as well- now market has normalised.”
Andrea Miño V. from Quito, Ecuador: “Over here we don’t have Uber but its equivalent has been Easytaxi. It’s been on the market for maybe 2 years or more. Not many complaints in that area it’s been helpful in terms of security since we’ve had a high number of “express kidnapping” where taxis will kidnapped their customers to robe them. Cause of that there’s been a series of actions to try to assure taxis legality and driving permits. None of them has been 100% effective.”
Sara Namusoga from Kampala, Uganda: “Next door in Nairobi, the taxi drivers there also protested against Uber. I think this happens where the taxi sector is quite organised. In Kampala they do not seem that organised! But we are yet to see the welcome Uber will receive when it eventually comes to Kampala… which should be any time soon.”
