Skip to footer

Uber users: Stop climbing into our cars, say random motorists

Uber, the ride-sharing service, is quickly gaining adversaries. New among them are private motorists, who are being accosted by Uber users who think their cars are open for business. 

|
Max Whittaker/Reuters/File
Taxi drivers protest against transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft along with Assembly Bill 2293 at the State Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. in June.
  • By Richard Read Guest blogger

Lots of people dislike Uber. Many of them are cab drivers, who are suspicious/concerned/angry about the lack of restrictions governing Uber's ad hoc taxi network.

Now, however, there's another, much broader group of people frustrated with thestart-up: motorists. According to Valleywag, that's because average, everyday motorists are being accosted by Uber users who think that they -- and their car -- are open for business. Technology funder Ashwin Deshmukh says that "Basically anytime I'm pulled over on the side of the street, someone tries to hail me or just opens my car door".

The problem seems worst on the coasts, especially in places like New York and San Francisco -- places brimming with young, early adopters toting iPhones full of apps like Uber's. Car owners report cruising the streets of bustling, hip neighborhoods like Williamsburg, when complete strangers mob their vehicle, certain that they've arrived to pick up a fare. One decidedly non-Uber driver said that "It's 90 percent white women and drunk bros". Based on our experiences in Williamsburg, that sounds about right.

Sadly, the problem is only going to get worse. Uber is expanding to new cities every week, and with a high-profile hire leading its global charm offensive, the company's drive toward world taxi domination is only picking up speed. Professional cab drivers can grouse all they want, but ultimately, no politician really wants to be pegged as the reactionary fool who tried to stem the tide of a huge, apparently unstoppable internet trend (one that gives lots of car owners the ability to earn cash on the side). 

That means more drivers are likely to be accosted by eager Uber users -- especially drivers of easily identifiable cars like the Toyota Prius. Get used to it.

Our take? If for no other reason than brand awareness, Uber needs to find a system of marking its cars (note: the fuzzy pink mustache is already taken). Either that, or riders need to sober up and pay attention. Only one of those seems viable.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Uber users: Stop climbing into our cars, say random motorists
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2014/0822/Uber-users-Stop-climbing-into-our-cars-say-random-motorists
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe