On the heels of large Uber protests across Europe, The Atlantic reports the mayors of Atlanta and New Orleans believe Uber will eventually beat out the taxi companies. There’s one more thing the two mayors agree on: it will be a long and bitter battle between the two.
Calling it a 15-round fight, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said he thinks Uber will eventually force taxi companies to alter their business model. Reed told The Atlantic, “In the interim, they’re going to flat out fight it out … because the taxicab industry is so old and staid and never had real competition, and now it’s being forced to innovate.”
The only reservation Reed seemed to express about Uber is its rapid growth and the question of where the company, and its quality, will be a few years down the road.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu echoed similar concerns about the company’s political skills, but called Uber’s business model superior to taxi companies.
Both agreed the battle for transportation in their cities won’t be simple, because taxi companies have been a longtime institution with much more political sway. Landrieu told The Atlantic the issue is already being argued in front of New Orleans’ City Council and that “it is a forceful fight, and our city council is full of people on Uber’s side, people on the cabs’ side, and it’s a battle.”