The past month has been a PR nightmare for Uber.
You’ve probably seen the headlines: #DeleteUber social media campaign, which led to 200,000 customers deleting the app; multiple allegations of sexual harassment, recounted in a post by a former employee; and a lawsuit from Google, based on claims that Uber's self-driving truck subsidiary stole over 14,000 files of intellectual property. Last Thursday, two of Uber’s early investors wrote an open letter after the organization took an in-house approach to these scandals, describing the team of insiders as “yet another example of Uber’s continued unwillingness to be open, transparent, and direct.”
"The most recent revelations about Uber have just opened the eyes of more people."
Cue startups switching their taglines from the being “the Uber of X” to the “dramatically-less-dramatic ride-hailing company of X.”
So as customers, former employees and current investors of Uber are speaking up, I began wondering: Why is Boston’s ride-hailing community so quiet? A few conversations later, it seems that Uber’s tricky month has local competitors, already snug in the branding of transparency and openness, ready to step in.
The CEO of Boston-based ride-hailing company Fasten, Kirill Evdakov, told me that there’s “no doubt the constant drumbeat of negative press has taken its toll.”
Fasten, which closed a $10 million Series A round in November, has seen its week-over-week growth in Boston double in the past month. Evdakov suggested that the protests against Uber, which began on January 28, may have played a role in this, as Fasten has not made any specific promotion campaigns.
“The week #deleteuber campaign started, we grew [about] 25 [percent] in ridership,” he said, compared to the company’s average of 3-5 five percent week-over-week growth.
Fasten’s increase in users could highlight an upcoming trend toward mindful consumerism.
“According to a survey of our riders, 70 [percent] of our users in Boston said they use Fasten because they trust that most of their fare goes to their driver, not to the corporation. The most recent revelations about Uber have just opened the eyes of more people, and they are willing to try an alternative,” Evdakov told me. “People are beginning to see that they can really feel good about ride-hailing.”
As Fasten works to optimize its position in the ride-hailing economy, Safr, a ride-hailing service geared toward women empowerment and safety, is more than ready to join the community.
The company, still in the pre-launch phases, looked at the sexual harassment claims set out by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler as an indication that there is a clear need for alternatives to Uber that empower women.
"Women face these issues every day, and not just in the tech sector,” Joanna Flynn, marketing and public relations manager at Safr, said. “We created Safr because we know societal evolution is driven by women’s access to safe mobility, job creation and financial security. This problem goes far beyond one company, but it illustrates the critical need for companies like Safr that protect and empower women.”
Finally, I spoke to Boston-based RideGuru, a service that compares different ride-hailing companies to empower consumers to make more educated choices. The platform offers consumers information on service quality, the portion of the fare that goes to driver and the overall price.
Ippei Takahashi, RideGuru's CEO, offered a more moderate perspective on the Uber debacle.
He told me that Uber’s “household name" will save the company from a downfall.
"Will this impact them? Sure. Will this bring them down? No."
“Yes, Uber has had some negative press recently. Will this impact them? Sure. Will this bring them down? No. Uber has always been the bad boys of Silicon Valley and the disrupter of the industry,” he said.
However, Takahashi did say that RideGuru has seen an uptick in usage and an increase in people searching for Lyft, which he describes “is a great indication that people are exploring and comparing options more.”
Smaller ride-hailing companies, such as Fasten and Safr, give individuals the opportunity to choose their rides based not only on price, but also other factors. These challengers, he described, “are entering the market with a certain angle, trying to find that niche.”
Based on these conversations, I think it’s safe to say that Uber’s month of madness has left Boston startups feeling more empowered, inspired and able to fill in the gaps. In the coming months, Uber’s response and next steps are key to deciding what the ride-hailing ecosystem is going to look like, and more importantly, stand for.
“If Uber’s recent challenges open the door for riders to vote with their dollars and shift business to companies like Fasten, we have a great chance to begin to make meaningful change in a multi-billion dollar industry that right now is dominated by a single provider,” said Evdakov.
A spokeswoman for Uber declined to comment for this story, only pointing to recent statements posted on the company's website. Its most recent statement is from CEO Travis Kalanick, who, after a video came out of him arguing with a driver, expressed his regrets and said he "must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up."
