In order to determine empirically whether taxi drivers are responding to competition from the likes of Uber and Lyft, I set out to assemble a dataset that would help answer it. But quotes are anecdotal, and the number of complaints will fall as the number of taxi trips fall, regardless of competition. Last fall, a writer for DNAinfo in Chicago quoted a driver who said that cabbies were “trying to behave themselves,” and noted a decrease in the number of taxi complaints. This raises an important question: Are taxi drivers themselves trying to improve quality in the face of competition? cabbie demonstrated, taxi drivers have some control over the quality of the ride. And, in fact, some cities have introduced apps to hail taxis.īut the quality of a taxi ride depends on much more than just the fare and the condition of the vehicle. Over time, taxi companies might improve service by modernizing their fleets and introducing new technologies. It’s also expected that new competition will cause existing firms to increase quality. In this case, however, taxi fares tend to be regulated-so prices change slowly and an individual driver has little control over them. In the face of new competition, the first thing an industry would likely see is a decrease in prices. In France, that opposition has turned violent and even resulted in the arrests of two Uber managers.īut in addition to the lobbying and protests, taxis-according to the rules of the market-should be expected to respond by trying to make their service more attractive to consumers. ![]() In regulated industries, like the taxi business, some of those efforts will involve pressuring politicians and regulators to keep competitors out of the market. ![]() Calculations based on data provided by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (ATLAS / Scott Wallsten)Īny business facing new competition will do its best to keep its existing customers from straying.
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