The company is close to a completing an agreement with a San Francisco partner, Flywheel Technologies, to allow Uber passengers in the city to call a taxi through the Uber app. Uber’s plan to lure more taxis onto its platform in the next several years could soon take another big step.
Uber has called the taxi industry corrupt and greedy, and a San Francisco taxi company once sued Uber in federal court, accusing it of predatory pricing practices. Some taxi drivers are pushing back against the idea of a partnership, worried that it would lead to lower earnings and make it more difficult for longtime taxi customers to get affordable rides.
Last year, San Francisco approved a test program that would allow passengers who ordered a taxi using an app to receive a guaranteed upfront cost, similar to how Uber and Lyft function. The goal was to help taxi drivers earn more money, in part by countering a phenomenon called meter anxiety — the idea that the unease of watching a ride’s cost increase in real time on a taxi meter prompts riders to cancel a trip or avoid calling a taxi in the first place.
“Uber is going to get hundreds of full-time drivers on their platform,” Engel said, but taxi drivers are “not going to even get paid a per-ride fare that allows for a dignified living.” “No one is looking at us because they’re conditioned that Uber is quicker, a larger fleet, cheaper,” Lama said.
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