Uber alles

Earlier this week I spent a day at Leeds University working on a leadership project with a group of health professionals. They had no parking spaces available so I thought I would get a taxi there and back. 

I'm not the biggest fan of the private hire companies in Leeds. Of course it is not possible to generalise, but the cars tend not to be great, there is little room in the back, the drivers are sometimes not the friendliest and sometimes you worry about how they are driving. Being used to London cabs they really don't cut the mustard.

So. when I heard that Uber, the disruptive challenger to the traditional taxi business, had just set up in Leeds so I thought I would give them a try. Impressed by the images of smart black sedans I have seen plastered over the Internet I thought this would be just the way to arrive in style.

I downloaded the Uber app onto my iPhone and filled in my details. It took a couple of minutes, no more. 

The app locates you (in fact it found the house next-door) and then tells you what cars are available nearby. For around 20 minutes from 9am onwards there were no cars available and I thought I would have to call for a mini cab. However, trying one more time a car was indeed available and was shown to be 10 minutes away. I watched on the app as the car got closer, seeing its position at every stage. I also knew that my driver was called Parvez, what the registration of the car was and that somewhat disappointingly he was driving a Mazda 3. 

Nonetheless, the car was clean if not a bit small to be sat in the back of. Pervez asked me where I was going. I thought this was strange as presumably he already knew. Anyway, I told him and we then discussed the best way to get there. Again, I thought the elaborate Uber software would have told him this. No matter.

The Mazda 3 looked like any private hire car except it said Uber on the side. The main difference was that there was no meter and no radio, instead just an iPhone on the dashboard which appeared to look after everything. 

My driver was very chatty and answered all of my questions great detail. In Leeds there are 150 drivers working for Uber. This pales into insignificance compared to London where he claimed there are now 9,000. Many thousands moved from one private hire company. He says drivers are paid £10 per hour if they don't have work and this makes a huge difference to them. He also talked of London drivers being offer £1000 to go back to their original employer. 

Their deal is they give 20% over to Uber and they are paid weekly, but they have to take more then £10 in an hour to be liable for the commission. This differs from the usual model of paying a fixed rent to the operator and getting cash directly from customers on an ongoing basis. 

True to their word I got in, I got out, no cash changed hands and my Paypal account was charged for the journey. I got an e-mail showing me a map of my journey, confirming the cost in terms of distance and time and giving me the opportunity to rate the driver. Apparently the drivers also have the opportunity to rate passengers. David Mellor watch out! 

I was struck by the amazing simplicity of using this system and whilst it looked and felt like a regular minicab the fact I didn't have to ring anyone was great - too used to be lied to or being told there are no cars for an hour - the fact it was cashless was also great and there was no need to ask for a receipt as one came by e-mail. I think the price was very comparable to what I would have paid anywhere else. 

My journey back was equally simple. The car was only two minutes away when I requested it this time but the GPS was not 100% accurate and he went to the wrong place. I could see the car on my screen not moving for several minutes. Eventually he texted me and we found each other. This time I got Ansaar in his little Seat. Ansaar was a seasoned taxi driver of a number of years who had signed up with Uber three hours before the launch. He had both front seats pushed right back so he could recline in comfort whilst his passengers were squashed in the back listening to his hard-core hip hop. The car was spotlessly clean but just too small.

Again the process was simple and flawless. Interesting the fare back cost about 10% more than the fare going. Possibly traffic was heavier. 

I can see now how this business is going to completely overturn the taxi industry and that it will have ripples way beyond this too. Today, whilst writing, there have been no cars available each time I have looked. But as and where there are more cars, it means that you really could manage without a car if you wanted to, door to door effortlessly. And I think there are other possibilities like integrating with online shopping so you could click to collect our goods, but Uber would collect them and they could be with you within an hour or so. Presumably this is why the business is worth $18 billion. 

But, in Leeds we have only got Uber X, basically small cars so the service is cheap. This is not really what I want but probably serves the student areas well where I understand they are very busy. I'm told 100 drivers have moved over from just one local company to Uber in this part of the City. I would like the black sedans - hopefully in the near future. 

There are big issues around taxi drivers and the minimum wage, which they don't always get. Paying £10 per hour for downtime is a great thing but the drivers remain self employed and I can't see this being sustainable beyond the launch phase where Uber clearly is throwing money at the service. There has been no visible advertising - one driver said he had been very busy, the other had been doing nothing all day. 

It is clearly early days but I think this changes things for the better. Parvez told me that all the drivers would have to have Mercedes and BMWs within one year and this could be a welcome improvement. But just for the sheer simplicity of getting a cab from A to B I will certainly be using Uber again.

Finally I can offer each of my readers a gift. If I recommend the service to a friend they will get £10 off their first journey. So those of you who want £10 for now't (as we say in Yorkshire), download the app and use this promo code: jonathans1577 

Bon voyage!