Uber’s strategy for becoming legalised in every country in which it sets up shop is to encourage its Uber-X (or other Uber brand) app users – or drivers – to break the law en masse.
While that’s happening, it pours millions into lobbying and public relations campaigns to promote its economic benefits and highlight the problems of the traditional taxi industry.
Targeting politicians’ weaknesses has been relatively successful, with governments around the world taking a ticket and waiting patiently for their chance to lie down and surrender.
In October last year, the ACT became the first of the states and territories to wave the white flag and pass legislation to regulate Uber. NSW and Western Australia followed with their green lights in December.
The next battlegrounds now are Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, where the app remains outlawed and where large populations offer prospects for Uber’s profitability. Tasmania is believed to be poised to introduce legislation to regulate Uber.
A Melbourne taxi driver protest is scheduled for 17 April, while various sectors of the taxi industry will have a chance to galvanise their positions in relation to Uber and ‘ride sharing’ at a five-day Australian Taxi Industry Association annual conference on the Gold Coast starting on 10 April.
Waiting in the wings – probably until Uber’s multi-million dollar lobbying effort removes barriers to entry in the point-to-point transport industry across the nation – are similar disruptive technologies.
Innovative Uber rival Lyft has denied strong rumours that it’s poised to set up shop in Australia, while launch plans have recently been announced by GoCar, a spin-off from developers of taxi-booking app GoCatch, which laid its foundations in 2011 by engaging the taxi industry for support, only to now lock horns with it as a competitor.