Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen
Podcasts Take Two
Can taxis survive in a Uber/Lyft world?
solid orange rectangular banner
()
Apr 15, 2016
Listen 10:15
Can taxis survive in a Uber/Lyft world?
This week the Los Angeles Times published a report about the taxi industry in Los Angeles. It looked at how it's been affected by the growing popularity of Uber and Lyft.
Uber and Lyft are cab companies biggest competitor, calling some to question the role of the taxi industry in funding LAPD stings.
A Lyft car drives next to a taxi in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
)

This week the Los Angeles Times published a report about the taxi industry in Los Angeles. It looked at how it's been affected by the growing popularity of Uber and Lyft. 

This week the Los Angeles Times published a report about the taxi industry in Los Angeles. It looked at how it's been affected by the growing popularity of Uber and Lyft. 

And to the surprise of no one, it's not good for the taxi industry. The number of taxi rides arranged in advance fell by more than 40%, and overall trips were reduced by almost 30%.

So how might the taxi industry compete with the ease of Uber and Lyft's apps? Maybe by utilizing apps of their own.

Time Magazine's Katy Steinmetz wrote about then recently and joined us to talk about it.