Uber, the car service with an app that is conditionally in business in Anchorage, sort of, has had some major problems lately. Per CNBC:
A day after city officials in Portland, Oregon, sued Uber, on Tuesday prosecutors in Los Angeles and San Francisco slapped a lawsuit on the company, accusing the ride-sharing app of gouging customers, among other claims. Portland sued the now $40 billion taxi-hailing service for allegedly failing to meet local regulations…The problems don’t stop at stateside legal trouble. Uber operations have been halted in New Delhi after a rape accusation. Spain and Thailand also ordered operations stop in their countries.
Here’s a chart composed by Bloomberg that tells the story:
You know what I hate about cabs in Anchorage? It’s a petty little thing but still, it bugs me. When I walk out of the airport and walk up to the cab I choose, I get told, sorry, you gotta take the one up there in the front of the line…. As it happens, I might not like the looks of that one ‘up in front’ and that’s why I chose the one I did.
As I happens I tend to pick the one that looks like it might be mechanically sound, looks like the cleanest one in the bunch and has a cabby who looks as though he tried to make himself presentable before coming to work…
Love the idea of Uber, but it may be ahead of its time. I’d still like to see some ‘variation’ of it in Anchorage, at least a safe, affordable and clean alternative to the taxis in Anchorage. I can’t stand taking a cab in this town, most look like a flop-house inside and they’re unreliable too.