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The Vancouver Sun reports that a Kamloops BC Yellow Cab company is threatening to outsource their dispatch operation to Pakistan. They blame the ruling Liberal government who, in a flurry of pre-election giveaways, decided to let Uber open shop in the province.
In a telephone interview with KTW from Pakistan, from where he emigrated decades ago, [Abdul] Rasheed placed blame at the foot of Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone, the province's transportation minister for the past four years.
The B.C. Liberals have pledged to bring in legislation and measures so ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft can operate legally before Christmas.
"Looking at that, I knew a small company like us can't survive a multi-billion company," Rasheed said, noting he is forced to look at his costs. "We're looking at all infrastructure," he said. "Overhead is high."
The Liberals have promised measures to help taxi companies compete with ride-sharing firms, including putting in $1 million to develop a competing smartphone app and attempting to level the playing field for insurance and driver qualification.
Some night dispatch for Kamloops Yellow Cabs is now being done out of Pakistan, what Rasheed, who is in the South Asian country working on the program, called it an experiment to determine if it is practical.
There are about four dispatchers who work for Yellow Cabs.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 01 2017, @08:40AM (4 children)
Catching a cab in an australian city was horrible. High prices. Waiting for taxis. Flagfall. Terrible untrustworthy drivers. Then uber came. Overnight taxi "plates" which people had purchased for 200k-300k were thought to be worthless. Business dropped off as people used uber.
Today we still have taxis. There are still taxi ranks. Taxis still charge a chunk. If uber do a deal for taxi vouchers with gov agencies then they may be done for. But. They are still here.
Darwins law. Those who can adapt survive.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 01 2017, @08:44AM
Then uber came, and the heavens opened, and radiant angels deposited divinely perfect ridesharing upon the land.
.... Travis, is that you?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Chromium_One on Monday May 01 2017, @09:20AM (1 child)
So you replace a terrible taxi system that screws the passenger for cash with a company that screws the passengers a bit less, while also screwing the drivers out of their agreed-upon cut, routinely lies to law enforcement, steals data from competitors, cheats on deals with their business partners, and expect the end results to be better for everyone?
Riiiiight.
When you live in a sick society, everything you do is wrong.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by AndyTheAbsurd on Monday May 01 2017, @11:48AM
Yes, all of those things are how modern capitalism works. And it's good for the working (driving? riding?) class as well as for the capital-owning (or I guess in this case server-owning) classes. Didn't you learn anything in school? </sarcasm>
Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 01 2017, @03:17PM
Where I live, my most often use of taxi's have been to get a ride home from the subway, BART. I've also used Lyft. I'd like to support the taxi drivers and would even be willing to pay a little more. But my experience has been that the taxi drivers are rude, belligerent and aggressive. The Lyft drivers are either friendly or ambivalent. And, of course, Lyft is cheaper. You can imagine which one I use regularly.