New York City just approved a pilot program that will allow riders to hail cabs on their smartphones, paving the way for app-building upstarts trying to make the journey as enjoyable as the destination.
This should be a boon to Uber — and stranded cab riders everywhere.
For some people, cabs can simply suck. In big cities, trying to tag down a cab can be annoying or (if you live in a bad or far-away neighborhood) an exercise in futility. One startup, Uber (which, via an app, sends a private sedan right to wherever you’re standing), cuts through the annoyingness of cabs — you pay a little more, sure, but it’s much less frustrating. However, it’s also disruptive, which is why Washington DC’s City Council is considering a new taxi modernization bill that would effectively limit Uber’s future ability to expand — by preventing the company from offering a low-cost service. The company actually rolled out one recently, but because of the proposed new law (which also, to be fair, does such things as force DC cabs to have GPS devices and take credit cards), couldn’t launch it in the District. Understandably, the company is kind of upset about this. Though, on the other hand, DCist points out that the amendment effectively legalizes the more-expensive service in the District, too. source
He’s the most important man in the world this week.A Colombian cab driver • Joking about the current situation with fellow cab driver Jose Pena, a 42-year-old man who lives with his mother who has become a central point of the Secret Service prostitution scandal – simply by driving the alleged prostitute who sparked the scandal home. Pena has become an intense focus of local media outlets, with some alleging that the cab driver is charging huge prices for interviews in the process of breaking an unspoken code between cab drivers and sex workers. The result? Pena has helped make the case an even bigger media frenzy, if that’s somehow possible.
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