Driverless would be the end of human-operated taxis, but even ridesharing seemed the end of the road for the Bickles among us. Ground Zero was San Francisco, in the heart of America’s disruption machine, and Uber and Lyft and the like were a jolt to business as usual. In an interesting Wall Street Journal piece, Georgia Wells reports there’s a renaissance in the city’s traditional cab industry, with old-fashioned car services experiencing an uptick. The piece suggests the Gig Economy may have interested a new pool of drivers in meters and medallions.
I wonder, though, if the waters have only temporarily receded. Newspapers were remarkably profitable during the 1990s even as the Internet began its ascension. That was when the New York Times purchased the Boston Globe for $1.1 billion, believing print an easy stream of revenue for the foreseeable future. It was a terrible acquisition, and two decades later the Globe was dumped for $70 million. Are taxis similarly poised in a perilous situation, ready to be run from the road by the sweep of history?
From Wells:
What explains this resurgence in people entering the taxi industry? Hansu Kim, owner of the Flywheel taxi fleet, says for the first time he is seeing Uber drivers applying to become taxi drivers. He says they realize they can make a higher hourly wage driving cabs than Ubers.
“There is a stigma attached to taxi cab driving. But Uber and Lyft have created a lot more people who would now consider driving as a way to make money,” says Mr. Kim.
Uber didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Taxi drivers’ incomes are still down about 25% since Uber launched, but their incomes have started to stabilize, according to Mr. Kim. An experienced taxi driver in San Francisco makes between $150 and $300 in take-home pay a day, he says. Uber said earlier this year that its drivers earn an average of $19.04 an hour – but that excludes expenses that come out drivers’ own pockets, including gas, maintenance and insurance.