Ridesharing has become the norm in 2016 for your average twenty-something like myself. When I visit a new city, I always pull out my phone and get an Uber from the airport. Getting back from the bar? No problem, just call a Lyft.
Yet, that’s no longer the case in Austin. Recently, the city passed Prop 1 requiring all drivers to be fingerprinted, in addition to a number of other regulations. As a result, Uber/Lyft have decided to leave the city. While I won’t spend time discussing the pros and cons of the prop, as that has been discussed to exhaustion, I’ll just share what post Uber/Lyft life is like for Austinites and what to expect for those visiting Austin.
The lack of Uber/Lyft has created a dangerous underground economy.
With no ridesharing, people have turned to Craigslist to post that they need a ride, or are offering car services.
We have turned the city into a black-market underground that looks more like a prostitution ring than one of the most progressive cities in the US.
Facebook has also become a source of rides. Riders will simply post their need, and drivers will instantly respond that they are willing to complete the pickup. The most popular group “Arcade City” has almost 30,000 members!
These rides are all without means of regulation. In a city that is supposedly safer now, it’s now standard to get in a car from a random person who posts on Craigslist.
Additionally, many other drivers are starting their own word of mouth services.
For example, on Friday I met a driver, Steve, who I got connected with because my friend was using him as his driver. He offered 10 dollar rides to and from downtown. He was twice as expensive as my regular 1 mile Lyft ride to downtown, but at least he got me there.
People are rigging Uber/Lyft
Proposition 1 has been banned in the city of Austin, but in surrounding areas, it is still legal. Many people (like myself), set the pin to outside the city so we can be picked up, and then once a driver accepts, simply call them to confirm the actual pickup location.
There are still many drivers operating Uber and Lyft, and this method works quite well. It’s simple logic that if there is a better service, people will find ways to get it (like Prohibition).
As you can see, I simply put my pin all the way in West Austin although the driver picked me up on Rainey St, hence only the 1.58 mile ride.
No Uber/Lyft means cabs are relevant again.
The ride sharing that we have all come to enjoy is no longer operational in a city of 1.1 million residents and the 11th biggest metro area in the country. In it’s place we are left with the remnants of a past way of life… 915 overpriced, rude, and hard to find taxis. Yes, that’s right, 915 cabs in a metro of over a million.
I could talk for days about how bad the taxi experience is, but for anyone living before 2010, you already know what I’m talking about.
Uber/Lyft alternatives offer terrible experiences
Uber and Lyft employ hundreds of the best engineers to get their product to a finished state. On top of that, they have been perfecting their product for years now. For the city council to think that a 5 person startup will be able to create something in a few weeks is ludicrous.
Features like creating an algorithm for finding closest drivers, making the map update the drivers’ location in real time, and even splitting costs are not as simple to create as some might think.
I personally had to get to the airport last week, and tried the city supported ‘GetMe’ app. Safe to say I won’t try to use it again until a major update.
The driver that was supposed to drive me had the audacity to just start the ride without me in the car, and then just drive around the block a few times. The funny thing was that he was over a mile away from where I put my pin!
You can see from the image below that this guy just drove in a circle…
I haven’t used the other alternatives, but looking at some of the reviews gives me a pretty good understanding:
Hail A Cab: 1 star in apple store
Fare , 2.5 Stars in Apple Store:
Ridesharing Alternatives are much more expensive!
You can see from the image above that the GetMe price was $ 2.05 a mile, and $.23 a minute.
For reference, UberX is $1 a mile, and .$12 per minute before leaving Austin. That’s half the price!
Many who relied on Uber/Lyft for their income are out of work
There are now thousands of drivers who are out of work. The frustration for the drivers has reached a boiling point with over 7,000 emails recently getting sent to city council.
It’s estimated that the loss of drivers’ income is $29 million!
Things have gotten so bad that the city has set up a hotline for out of work drivers who are in financial crisis. There has even been a job fair for those who used to be Uber/Lyft drivers.
Many believe that they will never be able to get their income back in Austin, and have resorted to commuting to San Antonio to drive for Uber/Lyft. Of course, there are now too many drivers in SA, and those working there estimate they are only taking about 50% of the rides they are used to.
Austin’s residents, and those visiting are the real losers
Losing Uber/Lyft has made locals’ lives much more difficult. The current choices are to either go out and not drink, or drink and drive; neither are sensible options. Yes, there are cabs, but forget about getting through to the dispatch at any time that’s remotely busy.
It’s been especially tough for those who are disabled and rely on ridesharing to simply get around.
Austin’s reputation as a progressive city is taking a hit
Austin has spent years building its reputation as a progressive tech hub, unique from the rest of Texas. Even as great events such as South by Southwest and Austin City Limits help to build the nation’s view of Austin, I hope this ridesharing debacle does not scare away potential startups from setting up shop here.
Recently famed venture capitalist Marc Andreessen had this to say about the issue:
Austin has already been hostile to home renting services like Airbnb and Homeaway by attempting to ban short-term rentals for under 30 days. That’s in addition to the craziness that is Tesla’s regulations. Somehow the car lobby is so strong in Texas that cars have to be sold at dealerships, and cannot be sold directly to consumers. It’s actually illegal to take a Tesla test drive in Texas, or even to get directed to their website from a Tesla Employee!
With Austin being the only major US city now to not have Uber/Lyft, it’s harder to make the case that we are a city that 100% stands behind progressive tech companies.
I say this all with unfortunate sadness. Austin is a great city and a place I am proud to live and work in. I hope our local government can reconsider bringing Uber and Lyft back to our Austin!