It still seems like yesterday when Uber, the app based cab hailing giant which was first announced in 15 states of America changed how people would be using rental taxi services all around the globe. To be thorough, Uber was launched in March, 2009 and was one of the first aggregators model that was paving way for a totally new industry, with new norms, new technology and would provide the most easiest ways to book a cab i.e. ‘just a click’. It was something that would change how cabs would work in the future and will definitely disrupt the rental industry which until then was beneficial for just the cab owners.
Right after its introduction, local taxi drivers all around the U.S had a stingy reaction and they were not wrong, since then Uber has grown immensely all around the U.S and is currently present in 60 countries and 400 cities globally.
They are not Alone
Following one of the most enriching economic models i.e. Uber was one of the few companies that was setting trends for others to follow. Hence, just an year after its introduction a Mumbai based startup launched its own cab hailing service by the name of ‘Ola Cabs’ which back then had a valuation of 1 Billion Dollars. At present the company is valued at a whopping 4.5 Billion Dollars which is more than a 400 percent hike in just 8 years. Another rising star in the league is a startup named Lyft which started its operations in the year 2012 and is currently ruling a 29 percent market share of the industry, according to an article published by CNBC, Lyft has recently delivered its 1 Billionth ride and is growing steadily year on year trying to be a one stop destination for car rental, bike rental and other commuting services.
The statistics discussed above clearly speak out that how Uber and other similar app based models have captured the taxi rental market in the last nine years, through the statistics one could also depict that the market share which was earlier distributed within the local taxi drivers and other rental agencies was passed on to their online competitors.
A Well Funded Startup will Succeed
It is not just the technological advancements that made Uber a global leader but it was the financial backup that uplifted the tech giant through quite a number of downfalls. Quite other startups also had similar access to technology but were not heavily funded by Wall Street as Uber was. Since then it has raised more than 13 Billion Dollars in capital which is more than the combined valuation of the other two app based cab services i.e. Lyft and Ola Cabs.
The Revolution turned Resistance
Since its inception, there has been protests all around the globe to get rid of Uber or for the demise of its services. Its pure and simple, after the introduction of Uber, local cab drivers were left with only one choice, with us and with us. That is because the people who did not join the tech giant were not left with any ways to earn their bread and butter and were automatically standing at the opposite side of the court. The industry started revolving and people were liking to get a cab through just a click of a button.
Drivers that used to earn a good amount in this profession with a hefty tip were now left with lesser work with even lesser payouts. Since then, witnessing the drift a lot of firms have entered the rental and share segment but none has grasped the market as fast as their US counterparts.
Following the competition a UK taxi hailing app ‘Hailo’ merged with fellow European taxi hailing app ‘MyTaxi’ which uplifted the merger as Europe’s largest taxi app with 100,000 registered taxi drivers in over 50 cities across nine countries, and including an enormous 17,000 black cabs in London.
Moving to the Next Level
Since the departure of the app based model for cabs many firms have started envisaging gaps in other sectors of the commuting industry. People are going commercial and are slowly starting to move their operations in the two wheeler segment, as more and more companies are witnessing growth in the newborn sectors. Entrepreneurs want to give something back which comes with its ease of use, and would save time and should be innovative enough for the future.
It’s not a laidback news when Uber announced that it would be coming up with the first flying cab service. There are tons of other things that have entered this segment for example a person who hails from London could now use a bike transport service to avoid traffic, a few UK based companies have also started van rental services in croydon to give people the freedom to relocate their own stuff, and interestingly now anyone can also hire super bikes for any special occasion. The future is innovative, it is fast and comes as power in your palm, however, the key point will be that how these new age startups will create newer jobs and not kill the other established industries.
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