More about the USA than UK, but nothing to suggest it couldn't happen here.
But more interesting is the various 'experts' who think this means Uber is becoming a taxi company
Uber reinvents itself as taxi companyhttps://www.ft.com/content/5a2fc076-4e1 ... d18ec715f5‘Innovation’ will see call centres take bookings on the phoneUber is going back to the future in Arizona, with an “innovation” that will allow customers to book a ride over the telephone.
On Thursday, the company that triggered the collapse of untold numbers of traditional taxi companies will acknowledge that not everyone finds its smartphone app more convenient.
It is piloting “a new phone booking feature that lets you request a ride without the Uber app” in all the cities in Arizona it currently serves, with a view to rolling it out across the US.
The feature involves calling a human being, requesting a car, and waiting to be picked up at the side of the road.
“This new feature combines the efficiency of Uber’s matching technology with the convenience and additional support of a live team member,” the company said.
“It was designed with older adults in mind, though our hope is anyone preferring conversational support will benefit from this pilot.”
The “live team members” will be based in the US and overseas, Uber said, and will speak Spanish as well as English.
Riders will not need to be preregistered on Uber to use the service — they can set up an account over the phone in “minutes” — but they will need a mobile device capable of receiving a text message that confirms the booking and alerts when the driver has arrived.
The move could help Uber increase its customer base at a time when its goal of future profitability relies on eking out added value from its presence in more than 800 cities globally. But the similarities with long-existing services was not lost on transportation experts.
“It seems a little strange to me, honestly,” said Professor Genevieve Giuliano, director of the METRANS Transportation Center at the University of Southern California. “My first reaction is: so Uber is becoming a taxi system.”
According to studies from Pew and ageing awareness non-profit AARP, young Americans are more likely to turn to ride-sharing services than those aged 50 and above. But the reasons for adoption (or not) go deeper than tech literacy, Prof Giuliano argued.
“It has to do with more than just the smartphone. It has to do more with people's perceptions about what is safe to do and what isn’t safe to do,” she said, adding that her work has found younger generations generally felt more comfortable with the crowdsourced element of driver ratings as a measure of safety.
Others, though, see Uber’s pilot as meaningful progress towards narrowing a digital divide, particularly if combined with other services designed to assist riders with visual or other impairments.
“Yes, it has the elements of a taxi dispatch,” said Professor Susan Shaheen, co-director of UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center.
“But it’s a smart dispatch. It’s got routing algorithms. It’s got more consistent, reliable wait times.”
She called on Uber to go a step further and incorporate cash payments as a means of narrowing an income divide. While Uber has offered cash options in developing markets, it said it had no plans to do so in the US.
Uber’s growing similarity with the taxi business goes beyond user experience. In New York City, for instance, the number of Uber drivers on the roads is capped in an effort to maintain driver’s wages and ease congestion in a similar manner to the medallion system — though without, Uber’s critics are keen to point out, the stricter vetting requirements and cost.
Prof Shaheen noted that imitation goes both ways, pointing to the many taxi companies now offering apps to “e-hail” a vehicle to your location and handle payments.
“They're both converging towards different elements of the other,” she said. “At what point do they become the same thing?”
Login
Register
FAQ
