Taxi Times International - March 2015 - English

CHANGING TAXI TRADE
CHANGING TAXI TRADE
TLPA-CEO, ALFRED LAGASSE
“IT TOOK THE INDUSTRY A
LONG TIME TO RECOGNISE
THE INTER NATIONAL
THREAT OF TNC’S”
Envious of foreign legal system decisiveness
in taking strong action against illegal
TNC’s, Al LaGasse (CEO TLPA), wishes
his own court system would show more
strength in following this foreign lead.
Not a day passes where at least one of
the apps, Transportation Network Companies
(TNC’s) is the term used in the
USA, makes the headlines. For the past
three years, LaGasse’s long working days
have been filled with the same fare, assisting
members across the country in
their stand against often illegal apps.
TAXI TIMES: It all started in
San Francisco …
AL LAGASSE: “Although Uber started
five years ago in San Francisco, it stayed
under the radar for quite a while. It’s interesting
to note that one app – TaxiMagic,
now Curb – was earlier on the market than
Uber, but this app connects taxi-users
with licensed taxi companies.”
What were the major changes in these
three years?
“Recently, Uber, Lyft and Sidecar have
grown into significant national players.
Before that they were only active in a few
markets like San Francisco and Seattle. In
mid-2013 Uber started branching out to
»Uber is an
extremely
aggressive firm
that will not accept
statements of
opposition
of anyone except
courts.«
Washington DC, Boston and Chicago with
their UberBlack service at first. Soon thereafter,
they introduced UberX (UberPop) and
then quickly grew from there. We sounded
the alarm nationally and internationally,
but many members,
especially those in
smaller jurisdictions,
thought TNC’s would be limited
to the largest cities and would never
affect them. Now even relatively small cities
are affected. Do you know Portsmouth,
New Hampshire? No? There’s a TNC there.
It has only 22.000 inhabitants.”
“It took the industry a long time to see
the national and international development.
Our first job was to get recognition
for the fact that this is a true industrywide
problem. We hadn’t really achieved
that before April 2014, when Lyft suddenly
opened in 24 US cities in one week
and UberX followed suit. The race for TNC
market dominance and the driver labour
force was on.”
INSURANCE
PHOTO: Wim Faber
The taxi sector was the first to feel the
effects. In many areas where TNC’s have
been active for over a year, the taxi industry
has felt a drop in income of approximately
40%. Of the widely quoted figure of
a 65% drop in San Francisco, LaGasse says
this is “blown out of all proportions” and
“based on a limited sample.” Yet in the taxi
to the TLPA my driver told me half the
500+ taxi fleet at his company was parked
and not used. “The taxi companies were
the first to respond”, says LaGasse. “The
limousine industry is just now responding.
At the time paratransit operators were
dealing with other problems: aggregators
(brokers) who entered their business as
middle men between government and service
providers. They are the least affected
by the TNC’s thus far, although Uber said
it would provide a wheelchair-accessible
service in San Francisco. A pure PR-move,
if you ask me. So far they have done a mis-
era-
ble job
of servicing
people with
mobility handicaps.
But time will tell.”
“Yes, TNC’s have made significant
inroads in the taxi business. Generally
their prices are 20–40 per cent lower.
Except when they are surge pricing, and
that happens far more often than you
think. Because of weather, blocked roads,
high demand, whatever. There’s always a
reason. Several times a day TNC’s will be
much more expensive than taxis. Uber
provides a taxi service, but doesn’t call it
a taxi service, thinks it doesn’t have to
follow the rules required for taxis, benefits
from doing that and doesn’t incur the costs
licensed taxi companies are compelled to
meet.”
‘The more consensus you build within the industry, the better.’
One of the main ‘savings’ is insurance.
Most TNC’s claim to have proper
insurance. A claim hotly disputed
by the taxi industry.
“It’s insurance with major gaps. So many
gaps that 28 states have already issued
warnings for TNC-insurance. It’s not ‘first
dollar’ insurance and it means you have
to go through the driver’s insurance first.
When that is denied, you can seek coverage
from Uber. That has evolved into better
insurance since they started, mainly
under pressure from the public sector. We
had a professional expert go through all
166 pages of Uber’s policy and addendums.
There are gaps there. But keep in
mind that when a customer signs up with
Uber’s terms and conditions for instance,
he waives the right to sue Uber. The same
goes for the drivers: they also waive their
rights.”
But TNC’s happily claim they are covered
to the tune of a million dollars.
“That’s what Uber says. How real is that
sum? They string each lawsuit out to make
sure payments don’t have to be made. That
helps keep their cash flow healthy. In the
early days money was tight. There was no
money to pay insurance. Now they would
10 TAXI MARCH / 2015
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