The big taxi company I drove for was at the top of the food chain in the Phoenix, Arizona area because the cars were clean, cabs usually showed up promptly, and if there was a problem you could deal with the company and they'd look into your complaint.
The company started switching out to the Prius a few years before I started driving for them in 2012. My first few leases were for old Crown Victorias, because I couldn't show up early enough to get in line for a prius (some drivers refused to drive the Crown Victorias, for various reasons).
The company had economy of scale in their fleet operations that was hard to beat: mechanics who knew the Prius like the back of their hand, boneyards (for parts), connections in the automotive industry.
They couldn't compete with people willing to wear out their personal cars giving 'rides' for peanuts. The company eventually sold off their fleet of priuses and their taxi yards, and refocused on the other businesses (app-dispatched medical transportation, etc). The Company tried to build their own dispatch phone app. But it didn't work especially well - I think they eventually decided to cut their losses.
VIP Taxi and Yellowcab are still doing okay, but I hardly ever see the green prius taxis anymore.
The ease of the Uber app is and was key above everything else - which might be enough to keep them operating when they finally have to raise prices to where they should be.
Or they just switch to a SaaS model. Much leaner operations and solves at least some of the friction issues that traditional taxi service has.
Then there's one aspect of their business model that the article missed (Maybe it will be covered in part 2 or 3) which is self-driving. Apart from monopoly power, this seemed like the other exit to profitability. I'm just not sure if those efforts were little more than lip service to placate investors or an honest attempt (probably a bit of both) it seems like the rapid progress of a few years ago has plateaued and that exit has mostly closed.
The company started switching out to the Prius a few years before I started driving for them in 2012. My first few leases were for old Crown Victorias, because I couldn't show up early enough to get in line for a prius (some drivers refused to drive the Crown Victorias, for various reasons).
The company had economy of scale in their fleet operations that was hard to beat: mechanics who knew the Prius like the back of their hand, boneyards (for parts), connections in the automotive industry.
They couldn't compete with people willing to wear out their personal cars giving 'rides' for peanuts. The company eventually sold off their fleet of priuses and their taxi yards, and refocused on the other businesses (app-dispatched medical transportation, etc). The Company tried to build their own dispatch phone app. But it didn't work especially well - I think they eventually decided to cut their losses.
VIP Taxi and Yellowcab are still doing okay, but I hardly ever see the green prius taxis anymore.