Since February, when I came back from a three month visit to my wife's homeland, Venezuela I've been thinking about and writing about Uber and its impact on my life. When I left for Venezuela in November 2014 I had been taxi driving basically 6 nights a week. The garage had so many more drivers than cars that I had to commit to that schedule just to assure that I wouldn't be sent home instead of being assigned a taxi to work with.
Shape up at New York City's taxi garages pre the mass Uber recruiting of taxi drivers was like something out of "On The Waterfront " which helps you to understand Uber's initial successful raid on the taxi fleets. Uber pushed their luck though, I think with the fare cuts and boosts in their take. Along with the lower non-surge fares and no tip option policy Uber attracts less desirable customers. These people are ignorant of Uber's dodgy business practices, abuses of drivers and fascistic "Mussolini's March On Rome" approach to political and regulatory impediments or worse, they "get it" and they approve.
Anyhow, the drivers seem to be drifting back to the taxi garages. I noticed some of the Gubers on the Saturday night of the nation wide Uber strike. Drivers outnumbered cars at the garage.
But this past Saturday I had another aha!! moment. I like to listen to classical music radio WQXR 105.7 fm. For the past few weeks no passengers have crudely demanded that I "put on some tunes. "
Uber has taken out the trash.
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