“Uber” – Part of a Paradigm Shift in Transportation

My friend Jon Lesage is an extremely senior journalist in the transportation space, and offers the following note on Uber.

Uber is public enemy No. 1 for taxis and other ground transportation companies. 

Taxi services, chauffeured transportation companies, and other players in passenger transportation, are attempting to exorcise a demon: Uber. This San Francisco-based network company makes mobile applications that connect passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire and ridesharing services – during a time when ridesharing and carsharing services are growing by leaps and bounds.  Uber represents a new business model that could steal business from traditional ground transportation options.

All completely correct—and “exorcising a demon” isn’t a bad metaphor here, though, unlike the case depicted in the 1970s horror masterpiece, it won’t be possible here.  Using the Internet to reduce the enormous waste associated with the way we move our bodies and cargo around the planet is moving forward, regardless of the will of the taxi industry – or that of much larger industries: automotive and oil.

As technology moves us forward, an ever-increasing number of us will be reconsidering the necessity of owning a car.  Soon we’ll be able to use our mobile devices to line up inexpensive and extremely convenient ways to get where we need to go without lugging around a 4000-pound piece of steel, powered by a fossil fuel, the consumption of which is, on average, 98.5% wasted.