Markets in Everything: Private Car Network

From the Uber website:

"Request a car by telling Uber where you are. Text us your address, or use our iPhone or Android apps to set your pickup location on a map. Uber will send the nearest driver to pick you up, and text message you an estimated arrival time. Cars usually arrive within 5-10 minutes.  Your licensed professional driver will park curbside in a sleek black car. Uber will text you again when the car arrives.  Hop in the car, tell the driver your destination and you'll be on your way."

It seems like a variation of Zipcar, since you register in advance with Uber, and your credit card on file gets charged automatically for each ride, and no cash is necessary.

Obviously, the taxi monopoly in some cities like San Francisco is not happy about the competition from Uber (formerly called UberCab), and they got the San Francisco Metro Transit Authority (SFMTA) and the Public Utilities Commission of California to issue a cease and desist order against the startup in October.

According to this report:

"Despite the cease-and-desist order, Uber CEO Ryan Graves says his company never shut down or stopped service, and has been working with the SFMTA to address each violation, beginning with the obvious company name change. In San Francisco, only permitted taxis can advertise themselves as taxis or cabs, including having those words in the company name. Hence the name change from UberCab to just Uber.

Since there's a 10-year waiting list to get one of those coveted taxi medallions in San Francisco, I can see why cab drivers would be threatened by the service and worried that it would take away potential revenue. While that remains to be seen, the technology has been a boon to another segment: livery drivers. Graves says that his application and platform has enabled private car companies to increase revenue, add more cars, and hire more drivers.

The chilly reception from start-up-friendly San Francisco local government was a good learning experience as Uber looks to expand next year to other cities, and is already eyeing New York City as its next potential target."

HT: Ryan S.