The issue of the safety of metered taxi services in Cape Town has once again come under the spotlight in the wake of the brutal assault of 18-year-old Sanet de Lange. The young woman was attacked outside a popular Claremont nightclub and many were quick to come forward with their own horror stories regarding the matter.

As Uber battles the Western Cape’s decision to impound their drivers’ vehicles arguments have raged back and forth about the best course of action, although one writer over at BD Live has painted a pretty clear picture of where he believes the problem lies. We’re going to hand over to that piece and show just what he means:

Last year, evidence of metered taxi drivers’ inability to compete began with the Department of Energy announcing a 90c petrol price hike on a Friday and ended on a Monday with the former raising their tariffs 200% to meet these new costs.

So Uber introduced Uber X — and immediately a service was available that was cheaper than metered taxis drivers…

This year, through its development of other car-pooling services, Uber has all but destroyed the traditional metered taxi industry. So what does the latter do? Arguably beset by clear innovative limitations, the metered taxi industry’s response has not been to collectively reduce extortionate charges or improve the customer experience of their vehicles or to send their drivers to charm school for that matter. Spitting blood, they approach the authorities demanding protection — the very same authorities whose rules they often break.

This is why there is such a reluctance to seek affinity with them and any attempt may determine this industry to be nothing more than a product of its environment.

Of course the problem doesn’t lie with each and every metered taxi driver, the problem lies with the general victim complex that many have taken on. One should expect to be faced with competition, that is the nature of the world we live in (other than Eskom, Telkom and other inept state-owned enterprises). The challenge comes with rising to match or better those in the same market as yours, something that seems to be an alien concept to those who batter and bruise unsuspecting would-be customers and then bemoan the slow death of their business.

Uber has changed the game, we’re not afraid to say it. The ball now lies in the court of the metered taxis to either step up to the plate or take on the chin the criticisms levelled against them.  Crying foul at every given chance is getting very old very quickly.

[source:bdlive]