Uber will soon offer taxi rides in San Francisco

Uber customers in San Francisco might soon find a traditional taxi waiting for them when they use the app to summon a ride. According to San Francisco Chronicle, the ride-hailing giant has inked a deal with Yellow Cab SF and Flywheel, the company that operates an Uber-like app used by taxi drivers across companies in the city. The agreement will give 1,075 taxi drivers in the area access to Uber customers in the coming months. Uber recently struck a similar deal in NYC, allowing people in the city to hail any of its 14,000 taxi drivers through the app. 

The companies were able to finalize the deal, because the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board has just voted in favor of allowing taxis to accept flat upfront rates for rides hailed through a third-party app. Customers can expect to pay UberX rates, which are calculated based on trip time and distance on top of a base fare, for taxi rides. The year-long pilot for the deal will begin on August 5th.

Uber’s rates are typically lower than metered fares, though they could be higher during surge times. Kate Toran, SFMTA’s director of taxis, said during the board meeting that Uber and Lyft fares are about 80 to 85 percent of metered rates. While drivers could earn less than usual for Uber rides, their participation is completely optional. They can accept Uber rides whenever they want, and there are no consequences for rejecting them. 

Flywheel and Yellow believe the deal would benefit drivers, who could accept Uber rides to fill in gaps for dead hours. “[H]aving some revenue come in versus no revenue is a much better situation in the end, even if it is lower than the taxi rate,” Yellow Cab CEO Chris Sweis said. Still, not all SF cab drivers are thrilled about the development. Mark Gruberg, a board member of the San Francisco Taxi Alliance, expressed concerns about regular taxi customers being ignored during Uber surge times. Another driver told ABC7News that earning less money from Uber rides would mean he’ll have a harder time paying off the debts he took to pay for his medallion, which cost $250,000.

If Uber gets its way, though, there’ll be no taxi left that isn’t part of its network. Uber exec Andrew Macdonald recently said during an investor presentation (PDF) that that the company aims to put every taxi on Uber by 2025. Doing so wouldn’t only increase its driver supply, it could also unlock new markets where people don’t have their own cars to use for the service. 

The USPS is doubling its order of next-gen electric mail trucks

Despite previously saying that it would only order 5,000 all-electric models of its next-gen postal truck, today the USPS announced that it’s doubling that figure to just over 10,000. 

Produced by Oshkosh Defense, the NGDV (Next Generation Delivery Vehicle) is slated to become the new workhorse of the USPS, with the first batch of trucks scheduled to hit the road sometime in 2023. And as part of the USPS’ efforts to upgrade its aging fleet, the service placed an initial order of 50,000 vehicles featuring a mix of gas and electric-powered trucks.

However, after learning that only 10 percent of those trucks would be EVs, the EPA and the Biden Administration requested the USPS to reconsider the distribution of its order. So now the USPS has increased the number of new electric postal trucks on order to 10,019 BEVs, which is a significant improvement, but still in the minority compared to gas-powered models. 

Postmaster Lous Dejoy says “Today’s order demonstrates, as we have said all along, that the Postal Service is fully committed to the inclusion of electric vehicles as a significant part of our delivery fleet even though the investment will cost more than an internal combustion engine vehicle. That said, as we have also stated repeatedly, we must make fiscally prudent decisions in the needed introduction of a new vehicle fleet. We will continue to look for opportunities to increase the electrification of our delivery fleet in a responsible manner, consistent with our operating strategy, the deployment of appropriate infrastructure, and our financial condition, which we expect to continue to improve as we pursue our plan.”

Upgrades on the NGDV include air conditioning, built-in 360-degree cameras, better braking and traction control, and much improved safety thanks to things like air bags and a new collision avoidance system. That said, with the USPS having over 190,000 trucks currently in service, this initial 50,000 order only represents a fraction of what the service will need to fully modernize its fleet. So while the mix of gas and electric NGDVs might not be ideal right now, there should be room to expand electrification in the future. 

Uber will soon offer NYC yellow cabs via the app

Uber has struck a deal that will soon allow folks in New York City to hail yellow cabs through its app. The city’s 14,000 taxi drivers will be able to accept fares from Uber users through apps like Curb and Arro.

This is Uber’s first citywide partnership of this nature in the US. It expects the integrations to be up and running this spring. Passengers will pay around the same as they would for Uber X rides, the company told The Wall Street Journal, with Uber and its partners taking a cut of the fare. Taxi drivers will be able to see their estimated earnings before deciding whether to accept a trip.

The move could help remedy Uber’s shortage of drivers and tackle the surge pricing problem while helping cab drivers find more fares. It could be an uneasy alliance, however, given that the taxi industry has opposed ride-sharing apps in the past. 

“The companies that tore up this industry need this more than the drivers do. Drivers can hold out on 1 – 2 more fares but cannot settle for a biz model that underpays drivers, fires them at will & guts full-time work. So it’s time to negotiate,” said New York Taxi Workers Alliance executive director Bhairavi Desai. “If Uber and Curb think they can slide in with a payment structure that’s broken for Uber drivers and piece it together on the backs of yellow cab drivers, they’re in for a sobering surprise.”

Update 12:30PM ET: This post has been updated with quotes from the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. The full statement is below.

Statement from NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai:

On Uber – Yellow Cab Deal

The companies that tore up this industry need this more than the drivers do. Drivers can hold out on 1 – 2 more fares but cannot settle for a biz model that underpays drivers, fires them at will & guts full-time work. So it’s time to negotiate.

After its business model has shown the failures to protect drivers from ridership downturns and rising gas prices, Uber is returning to its roots: yellow cabs.

First, this should settle once and for all the question of maintaining the vehicle cap.

Second, the fare structure that is not enough for Uber drivers is also not going to be enough for yellow cab drivers who have higher expenses such as the medallion payment and higher car costs as a new one must be hacked up every six years. To start with:

  • Uber – and Lyft and the taxi meter – need to implement a fuel surcharge immediately in NYC for all drivers.

  • Yellow cab drivers must be paid the metered rate and after 10 long years without a raise – that meter needs to go up.

  • The TLC-regulated App driver payment rates used to pay drivers under this program need to be adjusted to the increase in operating expenses since they were set 4 years ago. Drivers need to be paid whichever is higher – either 85% of what the passenger pays or 100% of the TLC-regulated rates.

  • Uber and yellow cab drivers need Just Cause protection so drivers can not be fired without warning or reason as the means for the company to control supply.

Here are some sample fares comparing what drivers would earn on the meter vs. under the proposed rates. Yellow cab drivers would be short-changed on average 15%.

Trip #1 (Manhattan short trip, rush hour)

  • Drop+Evening Rush hour (Taxi $3.50)

  • 2 miles long (Taxi: $5.00; App: $2.32)

  • 12 minutes long (App: $6.35)

  • 4 minutes slow/stopped (Taxi: $2.00)

  • Taxi fare (surcharges, taxes excluded): $ 10.50

  • App-based Driver Pay: $8.67

Trip #2: Manhattan (East Side) to JFK Trip, non-rush hour

  • Taxi Fare: $52

  • 17 miles (App: $19.78)

  • 42 minutes (App: $22.22)

  • App-based Driver Pay: $42

Trip #3 Manhattan (West Village) to LGA, Night-time

  • Drop + Night Surcharge ($3.00)

  • 12.8 miles long (Taxi: $32.00; App: $13.93)

  • 35 minutes long (App: $18.52)

  • 5 minutes slow/stopped: ($2.50)

  • Taxi Fare (surcharges, taxes excluded): $37.50

  • App-based Driver Pay: $32.45

If Uber and Curb think they can slide in with a payment structure that’s broken for Uber drivers and piece it together on the backs of yellow cab drivers, they’re in for a sobering surprise. Neither company will grow ridership without working out terms that work for drivers. We know who’s in the driver’s seat. And spoiler alert, it’s not a venture capitalist.

Volvo is testing wireless EV charging tech in Sweden

Volvo will put a wireless EV charging system through its paces as part of a program to test alternative charging options. A small fleet of electric Volvo XC40 Recharge cars will be used as taxis in Gothenburg, Sweden in a three-year pilot.

The cars are equipped with a wireless charging system from Momentum Dynamics. Charging pads will be embedded in the ground at two taxi ranks. Volvo will use 360-degree cameras to help drivers put the cars in the correct position and when they’re in the right spot, the taxis’ batteries will automatically topped up. An image shared by Momentum Dynamics showed an EV charging at a rate of 41kW. 

The EVs will be on the road for more than 12 hours a day and are expected to be driven for upwards of 100,000 km (62,000 miles) per year. Volvo says this is the first durability test of its electric EVs in a commercial setting. Momentum Dynamics has also teamed up with Jaguar to test wireless charging in electric taxis in Norway.

The concept of building charging tech into roads is hardlynew, but it hasn’t exactly taken off yet. Still, researchers and engineers are working on other ways to charge EVs as they drive, so at some point in the future, drivers may never need to visit a typical charging station.

In-vehicle interface during wireless charging at over 40kW
Momentum Dynamics Corporation