Almost from out of nowhere, some of New York’s most established industries are now finding their business models under siege, thanks to new technology.
Take Airbnb, an online service that connects people who want a place to stay with people who have space to rent — and is diverting revenues from hotels.
Or look at Uber, the app that allows riders to call and pay for a cab via their smartphones. Uber is upsetting yellow cabs.
But it gets crazier. Now Uber and the yellow cabs are both complaining about Lyft, a ride-sharing app that has car owners driving passengers for a “suggested donation” rather than a fare. Lyft postponed its debut in New York — complete with the bushy pink mustaches its drivers affix to their cars — because of a legal back and forth with city and state officials.
No doubt about it, businesses such as Uber, Airbnb and Lyft are bringing great disruption to Gotham. They effectively up-end the rules of competition and create headaches for a city whose legal and regulatory framework hasn’t caught up.
But here’s the most important point to keep in mind: The beneficiaries of this disruption are ordinary New Yorkers.
No one denies there are issues that need to be worked out. Yellow cab owners have paid a small fortune for medallions; the new arrivals have not. Likewise, hotels pay taxes and follow regs their Airbnb rivals do not.
But none of this is insurmountable. If Gotham has aspirations to become a high-tech center, we must become a city that embraces disruption and thrives on it. Instead of trying to squeeze 21st-century competitors into the last century’s regulatory models, let’s adapt to the reality of new arrivals and open ourselves to more competition.
Point is, this city would do better to look at Airbnb and Uber and Lyft less as outlaws than as the future. For these new technologies are only the beginning.
On behalf of ordinary residents benefitting from the greater choice, better service and lower prices these apps are bringing, we say: Let the disruption continue!