Although the subject disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived, France was moved by the fact that at one time the government actively acted to promote the arrival of Uber on the French market. Of course the debate is tainted with a certain amount of bad faith and our foreign or expatriate friends will tell us that it is only in France that this kind of question is raised (which is not true), but this is perhaps an opportunity to question the impact of Uber on the French market and to ask ourselves if it was worthwhile to encourage its establishment.

Before Uber there were cabs. Only cabs.

Over time we may have forgotten what it was like before Uber so we might as well refresh our memories. Before Uber there was no other choice than cabs and you have to remember what cabs were like back then.

First, the offer was ridiculously low compared to the demand. I can’t remember how many times I had to wait for hours at the end of the evening in Paris to get a cab home! Overall, the wait during rush hour was intolerable.

And for what service!

I do not want to fall into clichés, but we have to admit that cabs, at that time, offered an experience that was not at all up to par.

Cars not very clean and sometimes smelly, unpleasant driver, obligation to support what the cab listened to on the radio, refusal to close the windows and to put the air-conditioning whereas we suffocated of heat in the middle of summer.

Add to that questionable business practices. Impossible to pay by credit card (and it was for a long time even when this payment method was made compulsory), long itinerary for the pick-up as well as for the ride with, at the end, a certain anxiety regarding the amount of cash to be carried…

Maybe some cab drivers reading this will be outraged by my words but, as a customer, this is my experience at the time. Maybe they were better, but the average experience was closer to what is described than to something satisfying.

And Uber arrived

I won’t tell you the genesis of Uber, which owes a lot to the Parisian cabs, to get to the first impressions.

Luxury, clean cars, polite and stylish drivers, bottled water and candy, predictable prices and the ability to pay by credit card and, most importantly, booking and payment in an app.

Day and night.

Of course it didn’t last but at first it was a real shock.

What was the immediate impact of Uber?

Of course this was a major evolution of the market, even a revolution. For what impacts?

A better customer experience that has become the new standard demanded by customers.

A significant increase in offer. Significant but not gigantic. At the time only a category of drivers and vehicles are eligible to come “Ubers” so the increase in supply, if it has been real, has not totally shaken the market either.

As for the impact on employment? At that time it was very weak. These were mostly private drivers who increased their business, not new drivers who were starting out.

At this stage the two beneficiaries were the customers and the drivers in question. As for the cabs, the phenomenon, although publicized in the media, remained too marginal to harm them.

When Uber expands its market

The Uber offering was great for a certain market but certainly too premium to really grow in the market. That’s when an “entry-level” offering, Uber X, arrived. And that’s when we saw a significant number of drivers enter the profession. And that’s when the cabs went crazy.

Unfair competition? I am not qualified to say, but it is certain that some practices were very borderline.

Customer experience ? The fall! Let’s not exaggerate, an Uber X was still better than the average cab at the time, but it no longer had anything to do with the original promise, which, if it was maintained, was not affordable for everyone. But the more time passed, the more the Uber driver became the embodiment of what cabs were accused of in the past.

However, despite the decline in quality, Uber has continued to grow. Surprising? No. Many believed that what made it successful in the beginning was “the driver in the suit and the water bottle”. Well, no. It was just the booking and payment in the app.

One thing is certain: this expansion of the offer has put many people on the job market. As for saying that it gave them a job… They have discovered the joys and vicissitudes of entrepreneurship with a platform that imposes more than unbalanced rules of the game.

It has also made it possible to really increase the offer in Paris, hence the half-understandable anger of the cabs. Halfway because not everyone was playing the game in terms of qualification. But on the other hand, if customers prefer this service, even if it has been degraded since its inception, they only have themselves to blame.

We might as well point out here that Uber’s success was not inevitable, contrary to what some have said. In a country like Japan its activity remains more than marginal. Why ? Look at the quality of service offered by a cab in Tokyo, impeccable car, white gloves…there is no place for Uber. Except for foreigners who appreciate booking through an app instead of talking to a driver who most of the time does not speak English.

All of a sudden it was strange to find queues of cabs waiting for customers at the Place de l’Opéra in Paris on Thursday evenings, whereas before it was sometimes necessary to wait more than an hour for a car to stop…

Uber, the ally of cabs

I think many cab drivers are too proud to admit it, even if some of them do admit it from time to time: Uber has done a lot of good to the profession because it has forced it to question itself and improve.

For several years the best car transport service in Paris has been called… G7 Taxis. Impeccable cars, polite drivers, an app that allows great flexibility because you can also hail a car on the street and pay with the app.

The good drivers stayed, the others improved or left the profession.

The winner? Again the customer but not only. I think that cabs have also been rehabilitated by improving their service. I still hear sometimes jokes about provincial cabs but in Paris it is well and truly over. Even the tourists don’t complain about them or their level of English anymore. That says it all…

Would G7 have challenged itself and its drivers as quickly without Uber? I honestly don’t think so. The effort was substantial and would not have been justifiedif there was no competition.

And today?

In all objectivity, we must recognize, for those who have blinders on, that the best service in Paris is no longer Uber but cabs. Of course Uber’s premium offer continues to exist but G7 has its own as well. In addition, cabs are allowed to use bus lanes and drive in places where Uber and its clones can’t.

However, we will give Uber credit for having allowed a certain number of people to have a professional activity (even under sometimes questionable conditions), for having increased the offer of cars in Paris (otherwise the situation would be unbearable today) and for having pushed cabs to reinvent themselves.

For all this its arrival in France was an excellent thing and it is necessary that a competition continues to exist if we want that a quality service continues.

Bottom line

If the Uber model is anything but perfect and has sometimes not been law-abiding (nor drivers respectful of customers) it has had the merit of moving the lines.

If today we have a varied and quality offer that allows us to do without Uber, it is also because Uber has forced others to question themselves.

Personally, I only use Uber in one case: when I travel abroad and I’m not yet familiar with the local transport system or when I don’t like the way it works. The easy way out.

Image : Uber by Lutsenko_Oleksandr via Shutterstock