MOBILITY UPHEAVALS

The power of digital connectivity is disrupting old patterns of life midway into the second decade of the 21^st century. Individuals are in touch with the whole world with their increasingly smarter devices. The future of urban mobility doesn’t look much like the past. Uber is making waves.  Today plus ça change, plus ça s’accelère!

Here’s an early sign of upheaval in urban mobility. Taxi drivers fear their livelihoods are being undermined. They see Uber growing by leaps and bounds.  Some are counter-attacking, comparing Uber drivers and their cyberlord to infamous Chicago mobster Al Capone!  Boston’s Carriage News has called taxi owners and drivers to mobilize against Uber founder Travis Kalanick’s “arrogance and contempt” for common people. Uber is not just a bully: it’s a “$40 billion bully” operating “outside the law”!

Taxis. Taxis. Uber-where!

Such words don’t come lightly! Taxi interests are worried: taxi medallion prices are falling.

Long-Term Impacts

Beyond these immediate knee-jerk reactions, forward thinking may make taxi folks happy. John and Jane are getting car-free. That’s getting easier with Uber as another mobility option. If more people are car-free, there will be more demand for taxi trips. Taxi folks should welcome car-free life styles that Uber can bring, as transit operators and fans do.

Car-free voters will push for better mass and extensions into under-served areas.  Violà -- la grande ouverture for podcars. It’s enough to catch investor interest in Berlin, London and Paris as well as Asia. Smart new mobility models are getting serious attention because of identifiable new project where people live comfortably sans voiture.  

The highest density of moneyed digital innovation is in California Silicon Valley.  No coincidence that PCC9 -- the 9^th annual Podcar City conference -- is there. Mark your calendars -- Nov 2-4, 2015 -- somewhere in a cyber-cloud near San Jose!