It’s important to remember that Drake started all of this in motion.
“‘Bout to call your ass a Uber, I got somewhere to be,” the Toronto Raptors global ambassador rapped on Energy, a track that was released a year ago this weekend. In the year since, the growth of Uber, a mobile ride-hailing app, has been exponential and astronomical.
The city of Toronto has been no exception, to the point that the city’s taxi drivers rallied in December, blocking downtown traffic. Following a reportedly testy meeting with Mayor John Tory on Sunday night, cab drivers are now preparing to double down on that action, with a strike readied for All-Star Weekend (which doubles as the holiday Family Day weekend).
My feelings:
Better idea: Eat a bouquet of dicks. https://t.co/wjxtyxMrCm
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) February 4, 2016
Tory has fought against immediate injunction against Uber, a move city council supported. Wherever you land on the taxi-Uber debate, and there are certainly reasonable arguments on either side, the strategy at play here from cab drivers is asinine.
Public support isn’t necessarily what they need to gain traction, but it wouldn’t hurt. This move stands to piss off not only the city’s residents and politicians, but waves of visitors to the city for the NBA’s marquee weekend. What’s more, it’s leaving a ton of money on the table by taking drivers off the road during a peak couple of days that Uber alone will probably struggle to meet the demand of. It’s short-sighted from a public relations and economic perspective, and it makes the drivers look like pissbabies, throwing a tantrum at the expense of a good number of people who have nothing to do with the conflict beyond being rational economic actors.
Note: This obviously reads very harsh toward cab drivers, as was pointed out in in a reasonable comment (although the personal shot at me, whatever). I absolutely understand the need for unions to have the right to strike and that strikes are almost never going to receive public support. In this case, my gripe is two-fold: One, they’re taking what should be a great weekend for the city, one that involves a lot of non-voters and visitors, and throwing an unfortunate wrench in it. Two, and related, I don’t think that’s smart use of leverage, and I don’t think the drivers have played their hand very well here. City council just met on this, and four days out, a strike this weekend isn’t going to incite change, it’s just going to further remove them from any public support. There are better short-term means of dealing with the issue (namely, improving your service) while the legality of Uber gets figured out, but instead the drivers are opting to leave money on the table and risk a P.R. disaster. Why All-Star Weekend? And why so soon since the last strike – you’ll have used that bullet twice in 10 weeks now, and accomplished nothing but failing to effectively inform the public of the real issue and the need to push for Uber regulation. Why not time this for a weekend with more politicians involved and likely to be effected? Why not use the All-Star opportunity to provide good service, make a fair amount of money, and inform a large population of users – Uber’s not going to be able to meet demand this weekend, and the standardized, non-surge rates of taxis is a major advantage they don’t do a good job of highlighting. There are just so many better ways to have gone about the weekend, in my mind. It’s a strategic misstep, in political and P.R. terms.
