INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Bradley Tusk
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Bradley Tusk is the founder and CEO of Tusk Ventures.
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Shockingly, Congress acted responsibly in regulating autonomous cars… So what next
When don&t f*** with people cars
became don&t f*** with people phones
The sighs of relief are palpable
Uber can keep operating in London
With 3.6 million customers, 45,000 drivers, and a slew of reforms, changes and concessions already made to Transport for London (TfL), most
observers expected Uber to win a reprieve & and they did
Uber passed the first of two tests.
The second test is a little less obvious & and a lot harder
Being able to navigate the political climate in Europe demands that Uber not only demonstrate contrition, but implement real change too
But if Uber loses sight of who the end user is, winning the battle in London doesn&t eliminate the risk of losing the entire war
everywhere.
Here the thing: regulation is neither inherently good nor bad
Taxi regulation wasn&t all fundamentally evil and corrupt when Travis Kalanick ran Uber and it not all fundamentally necessary and
appropriate under Dara Khosrowshahi reign either
That because there are no laws of nature on how ridesharing & or even transit in any form & should operate
It all a series of choices, priorities, and trade-offs between competing public and private needs and capabilities
It just a question of getting people from point A to point B in the most efficient, cost effective way possible
That it.
Uber has seen so much success so quickly because the previous system simply didn&t work
More than 75 million people wouldn&t have downloaded and regularly use Uber if they were happy with their current options
If transit regulation were functioning effectively, traditional taxis would have evolved to meet the needs of its customers and the market
wouldn&t have been so fast and so easy for the taking
Like any successful entrepreneur, Travis saw an opening in the market and took it
Just because Uber then committed a series of very public missteps and public relations gaffes doesn&t make any specific regulation more or
less necessary, thoughtful or intelligent.
When Uber started collecting signatures from its customers in London to support its right to
operate, 850,000 people signed
They&re the ones who ultimately matter
The customer is far too often ignored in highly regulated industries, which, sadly, are frequently dominated by special interest, pay to
play politics (balancing the relative power and needs of insiders typically becomes paramount to actually creating logical public
policy).
That why Dara has to be careful
Losing London wasn&t an option
But if the game changes just to appease and placate the critics at every turn in hopes that the people who help shape public opinion stop
complaining, it a losing battle
Appeasement is not a strategy in and of itself
Meeting the demands of the market is.
Many of the changes Uber agreed to in London are worthwhile: 24-hour telephone support hotlines,
better contact with the police, better reporting of incidents, imposing limits on hours worked before taking a break, hiring independent
But if they&re all just coming from a place of trying to get people to stop criticizing you, you&re worrying about the wrong people in the
first place.
Uber greatest asset is its customer base
Uber greatest reason to exist is customer demand
The people needs were being unmet by taxi and ignored by the regulators
That why Uber had an opening
That why customers flocked to the platform
Yes, Uber has a ton of work to do & both as a business itself and as a culture still very much in flux
But that doesn&t mean losing sight of who you are
Just being the anti-Travis isn&t enough
Taxi already was the original anti-Travis
That didn&t work.
In this current political climate, it makes sense for Dara to speak softly
But if he wants more than just pats on the back and positive comments on Twitter, he&d better carry a big stick too.
