How Uber could end up as Silicon Valley's most spectacular crash
Here&#x27;s why Uber will succeed:<p>- Nobody who lives in a market that Uber serves will <i>ever</i> be willing to go back to the old way of calling a taxi dispatch line by phone, waiting on hold, and being told the cab will arrive in &quot;five to thirty minutes&quot;.  Seriously. Think about this.<p>- Nobody used to Uber will want to waste time taking out a credit card and swiping it through a dirty slot or handing it to a driver only to wait several minutes for it to finally go through.<p>- Compared to the average Uber vehicle, most taxis are filthy and full of all sorts of odors.<p>- The taxi&#x2F;livery industry is simply too used to enjoying a monopoly business to be able to fix itself.<p>Uber has already won, and all these stories about Uber&#x27;s culture, Uber&#x27;s approach to dealing with regulators, etc., are one last attempt by those who dislike Uber to gang up on it and do it harm.<p>Taxi and livery services, medallions, and all the corruption that goes with them are on the way out.  The stories we should be reading would be about immigrants scammed by Taxi companies working in violation of medallion laws, or about the cost of an NYC medallion that keeps non-rich people from making money driving.<p>I don&#x27;t think Uber&#x27;s prices are subsidized enough that if the subsidy went away demand would be significantly altered.<p>Simply having an intelligent app tell drivers where to expect fares and allowing easy booking and payment ads significant value to every ride that far outweighs the small dollar subsidy Uber invests to try to win  market share.<p>I personally use Uber far more often than I would ever take a Taxi, largely because of the incredible convenience that the app offers and the high quality of the service.<p>While Uber&#x27;s culture could probably use some improvement, it&#x27;s irritating to see everyone piling on and trying to harm one of the firms that has done the most to democratize labor and empower individuals.