Houston, Texas, the 4 largest city in America, and deemed by Forbes as the number one city for Millionaires is currently in a pretty serious dilemma in terms of progressive movements for the betterment of Houstonian society. In recent news, Houston’s City Council halted the ruling of Chapter 46 (Houston City Ordinance) which discusses the use of vehicle-for-hire transport services such as Uber. Uber, a young yet very successful company built by co-founder Travis Kalanick, allows “more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers”. Uber is able to execute this mantra by allowing qualified drivers flexible schedules within the confinements of ones respective car. As a result, cheaper fares and increased business for Uber drivers have seen great results in major cities such as Houston.
Since 2009, Uber has seen record profits estimating to $18.2 Billion, so why has Uber ceased business in Houston and other major cities ?
That answer is simple, Unions and similar companies that protect Taxi services have complained about “unlawful terms and agreements” used by Uber. One of these issues being the lack of employee cars that equate to the 2% mandatory wheel-chair accessibility for the handicap. While it is unknown if Uber will agree to make 2% of their cars wheel-chair accessible, one thing is for certain, many people using Uber stem from a younger mobile generation. Like the brilliant ideas and notions that stem from this tech savvy generation, progressive cultures such as Uber should be embraced, not denied a chance for growth. Due to America’s current economic crises, vehicle-for-hire services are thriving because they help average Americans secure a stable amount of income by working at times that employee chooses. For the customer, we benefit by not paying for overpriced charges and fare fees!
As a culture that has grown accustomed to using smart phones, older and younger users enjoy logging onto their Uber application without having to call for a “Yellow-Taxi dispatcher”. Unlike the traditional taxi service, Uber’s application gives real time feed back of a Uber driver’s location and description of their car and fare fee. No suprises, no gimmicks. Moreover, lets say an Uber bill needs to be divided for pay, Uber’s credit policy allows riders to divide up taxi cost.
If Houston and other major cities choose to deny business for Uber, we predict a major controversy to brew. For major cities that “believe in innovation and growth” we think it would be pretty hypocritical to shut down vehicle-for-hire transport services. How do you feel about this issue? Let us know what you think!
Product Of Society 