Uber Excited Over Uber

Uber's disruption of the taxi app industry is almost complete. Uber's business service has received society's stamp of approval. At first they were ignored, then they were laughed at by local regulators and taxi industry veterans. Now they are being attacked in places like Paris (Bloomberg Businessweek story here). Now, government regulators and veteran taxi companies are currently at a loss as to how to handle this situation.

As with most disruptions, the disruption of this industry instituted by Uber and others was swift. The pain for those that are not adapting continues to grow. The manic reaction in Paris using violence simply puts a larger spotlight on the success of the disruption. Local taxi owners are now having to figure out how to handle a consumer that has found a cheaper more reliable option while they have been handicapped due to governmental fees. The amount of money that local governments have been able to charge local taxis is front and center in this argument.

There is now even growing competition which confirms the disruption. Companies such as Lyft, and Sidecar offer similar services and are finding both demand and investors. Google Ventures recently paid Uber $250 million dollars.

Even if Uber fails to live long and prosper, it has definitely set the car use industry on a new path. But this disruption is not coming from car sharing companies. It is coming from society. It is society telling governments and car taxi apps are how they want to get their service needs taken care of.