Two one-time rivals — Uber and Yellow Cab — are ing forces in a partnership that will allow the ride-sharing giant to tap into San Diego’s network of local taxi drivers.
The new program, which was announced Tuesday and first launched in New York City and San Francisco last year, will expand the pool of available ride-share drivers by allowing local taxi drivers to pick up ride referrals from Uber app s. That means starting this week, your next UberX ride could be a San Diego Yellow Cab.
San Diego’s Yellow Cab will be ing five other taxi companies operating across Southern California as part of the new initiative, which will cover a total of 1,200 vehicles. Of those, 200 are d with San Diego Yellow Cab, said Akbar Majid, vice president of the local company.
The new alliance is a remarkable milestone for two industries that at one time were outspoken rivals as the ride-sharing industry rapidly overtook the decades-old taxi business.
“It’s our global goal to make Uber trips available for all taxi drivers,” said Celia Gale, Uber general manager of U.S. and Canada Taxi Operations in a statement. “We believe that these partnerships are a win/win/win that provide taxi drivers with more flexibility and earnings opportunities, cities with fewer empty miles driven, and riders with even faster pickups. As our taxi partnerships continue to grow, we’re encouraged by the levels of taxi driver engagement that we’ve seen and we look forward to bringing access to this program to even more drivers.”
Majid expressed optimism about the new partnership and pointed to the increased earning potential for Yellow Cab drivers. And for Uber, one of the main benefits is tapping into the driver network of these taxi companies, especially when demand is high.
“Now, if Uber has extra trips that need to be serviced, they can just funnel it to us through our onboarding technology … and that is a new stream of revenue for our taxi drivers,” Majid said. “It also benefits the consumers, thereby reducing their wait time to get transported from Point A to Point B.”
While Uber and Lyft have not always gotten along with the taxicab industry, one of the other benefits of the partnership is the potential for faster response times from the expanded fleet of available drivers.
“For the longest time, you know, we were not getting along, but like I said, this is a win-win,” Majid said. “There’s a matter of supply and demand, so there are times that Uber cannot meet the demand. And therefore, they can use our supply, which is our vehicles, to meet that demand. It helps them and it helps the drivers here to generate more revenue in their pockets.”
For Uber app s, they can request a ride as they usually do. If they order an UberX — a private ride without other engers — it might show that your driver is coming in a taxi, rather than a white Prius or a red Toyota Corolla.
San Diego Yellow Cab drivers who are a part of this program cover the entire county, with the exception of the airport. Majid said that for now, drivers can drop off, but they will not pick up from the San Diego International Airport, which has a specific area reserved just for ridesharing pickups.
Just like a regular Uber ride, the fare for a partner cab will be an upfront price, and surge pricing will apply.
While it is unclear how robust a response San Diego will see from local cab drivers, Uber has seen positive results in San Francisco. A report by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency shows that in the second quarter of this year, cab drivers who participated in the city’s pilot program to boost taxi usage via Uber earned an average of $1,767 per month from those trips alone — 23.8 percent more than drivers who didn’t participate according to the report. That same report also showed that there was a significant number of taxi drivers who opted into the program between the first and second quarters.
Like many other businesses that relied on people leaving the house, the rideshare business and the cab industry took a hit during the pandemic and many drivers left for other jobs. Majid said, for example, that San Diego Yellow Cab has about 30 to 35 percent fewer drivers than before the pandemic, but they are recovering slowly.
Uber, responding to questions from the Union-Tribune, would not divulge how many Uber drivers operate in San Diego County, but did say that the company continues to add more drivers to its platform, so much so that its global numbers of drivers and couriers have reached an all-time high of more than six million.
This new program with Uber is optional for cab drivers to .
Augustine Hodoyan, a San Diego cab driver for two decades, says he is eager to the new partnership. He acknowledges that early on his business was especially hard hit by the rise of Uber and Lyft, but since then it has recovered enough for him to make a living, although with long hours.
“As it is right now when we get a call for a taxi, we can refuse it or take it. I take it,” said Hodoyan, who estimates he picks up 15 to 20 cab rides a day. “Now with this new partnership, whether it’s a call for an Uber or a taxi, it’s business for me so I will take any offer because this is how I make a living. I’m hoping it will be more rides.
“I wonder how the public will react when they see a taxi cab coming. Like everything else, I guess they’ll get used to it because they want to get home and they will pay the same fare as an Uber.”
