Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber

by Mike Isaac

The problem wasn’t Uber’s black car service, which functioned well in a number of cities because it adhered to standard livery and limousine service regulations. The problem was UberX, an ambitious, low-cost model that turned nearly anyone on the road who had a well-conditioned car and could pass a rudimentary background check into a driver for the company. Allowing random citizens to drive other people around for money opened up a slew of problems, most notably that no one had any idea whether or not it was legal. At Uber, no one really cared. Kalanick didn’t think much of the nice-guy approach to dealing with cities. He believed that politicians, when it came down to it, would always act the same way: they would protect the established order. It didn’t matter that Uber was transformational, a way for people to catch a ride from a stranger with just a few taps on their iPhone. The new model pissed off the taxi and transit unions, and those people would flood the mayor’s office with angry phone calls and emails. Uber, meanwhile, would happily rake in the cash, and do so with a groundswell of public support from locals who loved the ease and simplicity of the service.