The perpetual whiplash created by the ride-hailing app’s dealings typifies Silicon Valley’s way of doing business—one that often leaves chaos in its wake.
Uber remains a leading contender for poster child status in the “Move fast and break things” guiding credo. Its entrance into the New York market undercut an inflated taxi medallion system, ultimately bringing financial ruin to generations of drivers, many of whom had forked over their life savings for the right to drive in the city. According to, nearly 1,000 taxi drivers filed for bankruptcy while facing loans they couldn’t repay; several died by suicide.
Now, having alienated its own driver base, Uber’s new partnership with cabs brings more uncertainty to the equation. With taxi fares set to be determined by the UberX pricing model during slow times, it’s likely that taxi drivers will make less than their regular metered fares. And when the app’s infamous surge pricing kicks in, the new peak rates could deprive customers of one major thing that taxis had going for them—their tether to relatively predictable metered fares.
Many Silicon Valley companies aren’t creating an exciting new future so much as further confusing an already dysfunctional present. The deference and leeway afforded to business in the United States is the stuff of legend. Without trains, we’d be stuck traveling by boat or horse. Without cars and airplanes, we’d be stuck traveling by train. Left in the wake of all that innovation are the people and places that progress forgot. That’s a tragic yet broadly accepted part of the bargain.
But that’s not even what this generation of digital disruptors is doing. Many Silicon Valley companies, and the firms that prop them up, aren’t creating an exciting new future so much as further confusing an already confounding and dysfunctional present. Giving companies like Uber the right of way doesn’t necessarily make cities or industries innovative; in fact, it often turns them intowith little oversight and little thought for long-term consequences.
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