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Collection: Crimp Your Ride

Calling Out Cabs

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Despite seriously questioning the need for a taxi demand study in Seattle (we don’t estimate demand for pizza delivery or dentists before deciding how to regulate them), the fact that the city did one anyway and now has interesting data from it does excite my heart a little. And there are some interesting tidbits in the study, which a council committee commissioned to help wrap its mind around what’s happening in Seattle’s rapidly evolving car-for-hire industry.

This matters because the ability to call a taxi or limo or rideshare service on a moment’s notice, and reasonably expect it to show up, makes it easier for people to give up their cars entirely, or at least leave one at home. When emergencies happen or bus schedules won’t get us where we need to be on time, affordable and reliable car-for-hire services are an important part of a city’s transportation ecosystem.

The good news from Seattle’s taxi study is that there doesn’t appear to be any shortage of vehicles-for-hire out there for people who are savvy and plugged in and wealthy enough to take advantage of all the available options. If you’re trying to call a cab on a busy Saturday night, you may be in for a long wait, since weekend nights are one of the few times that the city’s taxi fleet is completely maxed out.

However, if you know about for-hire vehicles (which look very much like taxis but charge flat rates and are only supposed to pick up fares in Seattle by prearrangement), or flush enough to spring for a limo (which get far better customer service ratings), or comfortable enough to ride with a stranger driving for ridesharing companies like Lyft or Sidecar or UBERx, you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a ride even during those peak times, according to consultants who did the demand study.

The bad news is that taxi service in Seattle—the egalitarian workhorses of the fleet—have far worse response times and serious customer perception problems, according to a survey that asked people about their most recent experience with summoning a cab or other for-hire vehicle.

Taxi response chart
City of Seattle Taxi Demand Study

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Taxi vs. Lyft: My Commute (Part 2)

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Last week I wrote about my experience commuting to work with Yellow Cab vs. Lyft, one of the new on-demand, smartphone-based “ridesharing” services that have recently started operating in Seattle. Personally, my experience with Lyft was much more efficient and pleasant. But that leaves out some important points for policymakers attempting to craft sensible regulations for a growing car-for-hire industry.

For starters, I’m fortunate enough to have the option of owning an iPhone, which gives me the choice to use services like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar. Those new companies use smartphone apps as their dispatch systems, which put their services out of reach for certain consumers. There are plenty of people who need rides but can’t afford expensive data plans or who are intimidated by new technology.

Taxi vs. Lyft: My Commute

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Monday morning I got to work in a plain old Yellow Cab. Tuesday morning I tried Lyft, one of the new smartphone-based, on-demand “ridesharing” services that allows a regular person to turn his or her car into what operates much like a taxi with a pink mustache.

My experience with Lyft was radically better (more on that below), but not in the ways that its marketing strategy emphasizes. I wasn’t looking for my driver to be my best friend, or to feel like I was a part of a community, or to have scintillating conversations about politics before 9 a.m. I’m a mom with a poky kid, trying to get to work as quickly as possible, and I did that 34 minutes faster with Lyft.

That simple fact says a lot about the upstart—and, for now in Seattle, wholly unregulated—services that allow a customer to summon and pay for a ride from a fleet of drivers roaming the streets in their personal cars using a smartphone app. You can see on the map how far away your driver is, and that he or she is really coming. It’s much less stressful than calling a grumpy dispatcher and waiting on the side of the road, wondering if your cab will ever show up.

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