Uber and taxis are close to solidifying a new partnership in San Francisco that will allow riders to order either one on the same app.
But some think it may not be as good as it sounds.
“Uber is a company with a terrible track record of trust,” said Mark Gruberg of the SF Taxi Worker Alliance, who has been a taxi driver in San Francisco since 1983.
He said his bottom line has not been the same since ride sharing apps entered the picture and he’s not sold that aligning with them is the solution.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
“We would like more transparency, we would like some guarantees that cab drivers aren't going to be hurt by this and the public isn't going to get hurt,” said Gruberg.
Among the concerns are the base rate pay for drivers, a cap commission rate for Uber and stricter, local regulations for Uber.
Local
“The Public Utilities Commission regulates them and they do so very lightly,” said Gruberg.
But not all drivers agree with him.
“Especially just coming out of this brutal pandemic, we need this business so bad,” said Muwaffaq Mustafa, operations manager at Flywheel. “The taxi industry went down almost to the ground as we are trying as owners as workers to lift it up a little bit.”
A few weeks ago, New York approved a similar deal between Uber and Cabs.
San Francisco has been trying it out as a pilot program since September.
City transportation leaders now have to decide whether to make it permanent.
“We can help taxis by bringing in more business, and riders by adding more transportation choices,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
So far, Flywheel and Yogo are the two Taxi booking apps being considered to partner with Uber.
