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I was on the phone with my mother (still up in the Bronx) last week when she asked about what I hoped to be writing about once the site was back up. I told her about the recent twists and turns involving Uber. Then she said, \u201cBy the way, Lopez said hello.\u201d I had to smile.<\/p>\n
She used a livery service (normally for the ride home to the edge of the Fordham Heights\/University Heights neighborhoods) for the better part of 15 years while she worked at both Harlem Hospital and Columbia-Presbyterian after pulling twelve hour shifts as a\u00a0registered nurse\u00a0in their NICUs. It didn\u2019t hurt that one of the dispatchers was located only blocks from us. The vast majority of the time, Lopez was the one who picked her up. He\u2019d apparently asked how I was doing after picking up my mother and brother from a trip out on Fordham Road. The service\u2019s number is one that still lives in my cell phone; it\u2019s almost a necessity as a Bronx native. Why? Yellow cabs generally didn\u2019t \u201cdo\u201d the outer boroughs \u201cback in the day\u201d and they weren\u2019t allowed to do pre-arranged rides.<\/p>\n
I smirk with envy as the \u201cBoro taxis<\/a>\u201d are now available for the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and most of the northern portions of Manhattan. I grew up seeing folks hailing taxis on television and I\u2019d laugh if it was somewhere known to be impossible to get one (generally anything north of 96th<\/sup>\u00a0Street). Livery cars gave us one more option to consider when getting around in New York City \u2013 especially when it came to getting home late at night when\u00a0subway<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0bus (this one\u2019s just the Bronx\u2019s routes)<\/a>\u00a0arrivals at stations are more spaced out and the throngs of\u00a0straphangers<\/a>\u00a0are scattered. They weren\u2019t necessarily all equal either. So I was led to laugh some more at folks who kept pointing to NYC as I remembered just how crazy the situation was and continues to be in the city. I remember the need for enterprising individuals to set up solutions in a broken system.<\/p>\n I look at Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, and others like them as simply replacing in-car CB radios accepted as a staple of car service with a new tool. It\u2019s tougher to rob an Uber driver if they don\u2019t have cash to take. It\u2019s tougher for a driver to say they don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going (but they don\u2019t want to listen to you tell them how to get there) when there\u2019s GPS available. It\u2019s tough to argue with a user rating on either side of the equation. The service in Birmingham, however, could be seen as a business opportunity for drivers but an extra for many given the region\u2019s low median household income levels.<\/p>\n One thing I learned long ago was New Yorkers are spoiled in terms of choice. Taxis and liveries work because we had other methods of getting around available for consideration. Something I\u2019ve noticed here is the need for a car often outweighs the want of a car in Birmingham. We\u2019re getting pretty excited for a new service that works best when augmented by other services desperately needed throughout the city and the region.<\/p>\n As much as many believe\u00a0#<\/strong>BirminghamNeedsUber, I\u2019d argue what the Magic City needs more than anything else is choices. Some of those choices are on the way, though they\u2019d probably appreciate the same level of enthusiasm Uber has received in recent weeks. Why aren\u2019t we seeing\u00a0#<\/strong>BirminghamNeedsTransit or\u00a0#<\/strong>BirminghamNeedsChoices or\u00a0#<\/strong>BirminghamNeedsBikes used with equal excitement? I\u2019m pretty sure Ann August would appreciate a community supporting her efforts to improve\u00a0our transit authority, the BJCTA<\/a>. Those efforts would undoubtedly improve opportunities for potential Uber drivers to get fares. While bike sharing may not provide the same potential, the\u00a0Birmingham Bike share initiative<\/a>\u00a0needs some cheerleaders too.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve done my best to avoid using ride-sharing when discussing Uber and other car service apps (though I slipped when posting last week).\u00a0Mike Smith\u2019s piece on Tuesday afternoon<\/a>\u00a0about\u00a0CommuteSmart<\/a>\u00a0and the significance of that term does a great job explaining why it may not be the best\u00a0one\u00a0to use long-term as we continue to tackle the issue. It\u2019s worth noting again that other cities are moving forward with similar legislation, with eerily similar hashtags to those being used here deployed \u2013 for instance, meet #NOLAneedsUber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Changes need to be made as this city starts to move at a pace few are ready for, though perhaps it needs to think hard about where those efforts need to be focused first.<\/p>\n Andr\u00e9 Natta is the stationmaster for bhamterminal.com.<\/p>\n Photo:<\/strong>\u00a0New York City<\/em>.\u00a0Damion Morys<\/a>\/Flickr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As much as many believe #BirminghamNeedsUber, Andre Natta argues what the Magic City needs more than anything else is choices — and some cheerleaders to move efforts forward. Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/dearbham\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2014\/08\/4123119539_c5eda95986-150x150.jpg\")
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