Business Week - Uber Technologies Inc., the car-sharing service that lets people order transportation via a smartphone, is temporarily cutting fares on its taxi-like option to step up competition with New York City cab services.
The San Francisco-based startup reduced fares by 20 percent in New York for its UberX service, making it cheaper than a city taxi, the company said today on its website. The lower prices will be in place for an unspecified limited time.
Uber, which last month raised $1.2 billion at a valuation of about $17 billion, has faced regulatory hurdles around safety concerns and protests by taxi drivers’ lobbies in the U.S. and abroad. Traditional cab drivers worldwide say they are bound by rules that don’t apply to Uber’s smartphone-based service, putting them at a disadvantage.
The startup said an UberX ride from New York’s Grand Central Station to the Financial District would cost $22 under the new fares, compared with $24 for a city taxi.
Uber, I love it. Everyone with a sane brain is gonna love it. Unfortunately, there's one group of people, most of whom generally don't have sane brains, that isn't going to love it. Cab drivers. And guess what? In New York, that may as well mean the cartel. And if Breaking Bad taught me anything, it's that you don't fuck with the cartel. Next thing you know, there's gonna be a severed head bomb attached to a little remote controlled cab driven right in to the Uber CEO's office. Courtesy of the cocksuckers who think charging $25 for a 3 mile ride is acceptable.
So trust me, Uber, I appreciate the gesture, I really fuckin do. I mean it's about time somebody tried to step up to these guys and allow for affordable travel alternatives to a sometimes defunct public transportation system. But get out while you can, man. It ain't worth it, it just ain't worth it. You're so young and full of promise, full of dreams and life. Don't throw it all away on some pipe dream of easy to use apps that make getting from A to B extremely easy and cheap. I can't see you go down like this.... not like this.
