[ad_1]
In Dara Khosrowshahi's vision of the future, I will use Uber to pay the commuter train ride from my Berkeley home to the FT office in San Francisco's financial district, pedaling on an Uber electric bike to take one of their cars at home after drinks early.
"The ultimate competition is the possession of cars and the market is an important market," said Uber's CEO when we spoke recently about the company's desire to become "the Amazon of transportation". "I think it will make us a daily habit that will prove incredibly valuable," he said.
Like its rival Lyft, Uber wants to replace private vehicles by making it a one-stop shop for rides, bike and scooter sharing, car rental and public transit. Both companies have invested in two-wheelers as they head into the next phase of growth in an industry that has already changed the way many of us travel.
Reducing the number of cars is a worthy goal. They contribute to traffic congestion and pollution and, during the big periods of the day, they are unused, take up space and could be used more productively.
And there is no doubt that, in many places, transportation could be improved. The move from New York to California this year has helped me understand why the Bay Area of San Francisco was the cradle of American applications. Public transport is half as reliable and often twice as expensive as New York – even with the state of emergency of the New York subway.
To get to town meetings or to visit new friends near my home across the bay, a car is often the fastest option. For shorter trips, a bike or an electric scooter would be simpler, cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
Uber acquired a dominant market share in the United States and an activity valued at $ 76 billion by taking taxis from San Francisco to São Paulo. The company's self-styled style infuriated taxi drivers and city officials, and Khosrowshahi has spent the past year trying to change this image, facilitating relations with regulators, increasing security and cleaning up a culture. internal toxic.
But as his ambitions extend to the range of urban transport, Uber and (to a lesser extent) Lyft continue to pay for past bad behavior. San Francisco officials snubbed the two by handing out licenses for electric scooter rentals this month, citing violations in their core business.
Regulators take an enlightened approach to the explosion of scooter sharing. What this means for businesses will be city by city: the same day that Uber and Lyft lost in San Francisco, they got permits in Santa Monica.
Meanwhile, New York City has temporarily capped the number of passenger cars and the mayor of London would like to follow suit. All this boils down to a more complicated regulatory picture at a time when Uber and Lyft are preparing to attract investors to the initial public offerings.
There are other obstacles to the utopia of transport. With few bike lanes, the prospect of sharing the streets of the city with cars is discouraging for many. Uber and Lyft have exacerbated this phenomenon in many cities by putting more cars on the road, which adds even more saturation and makes getting on a bike or scooter even less attractive.
The increase in transportation applications has also contributed to a decline in the use of public transport in the United States, which has fallen to its lowest level in 12 years in 2017, while the number of kilometers traveled by car increases each year. Many urban systems are underfunded and declining tariff revenues are not helping.
Uber says his ride into bike sharing in San Francisco is promising to get people out of their cars. At rush hour, the bike is running while you drive.
For now, cars continue to dominate the road. To change this, cities need to build bike lanes, impose a price on congestion and invest in public transport. When it comes to implementing the Khosrowshahi Roadmap, there are still many obstacles to overcome.
Shannon Bond is a FT correspondent in San Francisco
To follow @FTMag on Twitter to learn more about our latest stories. Subscribe to FT Life on YouTube to see the latest FT Weekend videos
S
[ad_2]
Source link
