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New Years’ Eve, is firmly in GoCar’s sights. Moorfield has labelled it “price gouging” and promised not to use it at GoCar, instead offering fixed on-peak and off-peak rates. “We hate surge pricing, we think that will be a big differentiator for us,” Moorfield says. GoCar is taking a lower driver commission at 15% of earnings instead of Uber’s 20%. He has also taken aim at what he sees as Uber’s “arrogant culture”, pointing to Uber’s court action against the Australian Tax Office over its demand that Uber collect GST (Goods and Services Tax). And he has warned Uber against using subsidies in Australia to attract drivers like it has done in China. “There is potential for Uber to engage in very anti-competitive behaviour if it starts throwing subsidies at drivers,” Moorfield says. “But I suspect they are fairly well informed on strong competition laws in Australia.” Moving into ride sharing, which uses unmarked cars and competes against taxis, has not won him any friends in the taxi industry, Moorfield says. “But ride sharing is great for drivers,” he says. “It’s flexible hours, you can jump into your own car and you don’t have to travel to a base and pick up a dirty taxi that you then drive for 12 hours, and spend first three hours trying to recover money you paid for the vehicle. We think the majority of taxi drivers recognise that, and a lot of ride sharing drivers are current or ex-taxi drivers.” Uber general manager for Australia and New Zealand David Rohrsheim tells Higher View Business: “It was certainly the NSW government’s intention to open up the point-to-point transport market for more competition, and consumers will be the winners.”
35,000 The number of taxi drivers using GoCatch. 使用GoCatch的出租车 司机数量 。
He also says ridesharing is growing the overall number of trips in the point-to-point market, so it is not a zero-sum game. “Deloitte research concluded 61% of UberX trips are new,” Rohrsheim says. “So the story here isn’t so much about competition as it is about growing the market, which is ultimately about challenging car ownership.”
CONSUMERS THE WINNERS
Where the battle goes from here remains to be seen, but if a price war erupts consumers stand to benefit a lot. Uber’s fares in China are on average at least 35% cheaper than taxis, the cars are generally more luxurious and they offer free water. And despite being the underdog in China, Uber is in a strong position. Its partner Baidu, which owns a stake in Uber, recently hit 300 million active monthly users on its Baidu Maps app, which promises to send business Uber’s way through an in-built car-hailing feature. It operates in 395 cities worldwide and plans to enter 100 more Chinese cities over the next year. It has raised more than $10 billion in funding from the likes of Goldman Sachs, TPG and Fidelity. Uber said in February it recorded a 1000% increase in rides hailed overseas by mainland Chinese users during the Lunar New Year break. Didi Chuxing in October beat Uber to become the first car-hailing app in Shanghai to win legal recognition, by being licensed under the Shanghai Municipal Transport Commission. Didi aspires to become the “world’s largest one-stop mobile transportation forum” as it expands into other services including premium car-hailing, carpooling and bus sharing. Didi came about after a merger in February last year between China’s two largest taxihailing firms - Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache - leading to a combined equity valued at around $US6 billion at the time. Still, there are many cities in the world including Australia and China where ridesharing is either in a grey regulatory area or outright illegal. The ultimate regulatory environment is far from certain. And with the rise of Didi Chuxing, Uber’s global supremacy is also less certain than it used to be. 商道
莫菲尔德亦表示进军拼车领域——即使用无 任何标记的车辆并与出租车进行竞争——导致 他从未交到过出租车行业的任何朋友。 “但是拼车很受司机欢迎，因为它在时间上 十分灵活。您可以直接开自己的车，而无需先 开车到一个出租车基地去接手一辆脏兮兮的出 租车并争取到12小时的使用时间，并且在前三 个小时内还要努力把份子钱赚出来。我们认为 绝大部分司机都意识到了这一点，并且许多拼 车服务司机的上一份工作正是出租车司机。” 优步并没有回应《商道》要其置评的要求， 但优步的澳大利亚和新西兰总经理David Rohrsheim向news.com.au表示：“作为首 家向澳大利亚引进拼车概念的公司，我们深感 自豪。消费者如今可以拥有甚于以往的更多出 行选择。” 消费者才是大赢家 虽然战火烧向何处尚待分晓，但如果爆发价 格战的话，消费者无疑将是最大的赢家。 优步在中国的车费平均要比出租车低35%， 而且车辆通常更为豪华，更有免费矿泉水 提供。 尽管在中国尚属后进，但优步已锋芒渐露。 优步合作方百度亦是优步的投资人，其旗下“ 百度地图”应用的每月活跃用户数量达到3亿 之多；百度已承诺通过在百度地图中内置叫车 功能的方式来助力优步。 优步的业务遍及全球395个城市，并计划明 年进军100多个中国城市。优步已从高盛、德 州太平洋集团以及富达等巨头手中募得逾100 亿美元。 《纽约时报》2015年6月援引一位内部人士 的说法报道称：2014年12月期间，优步每天 在中国完成10万多份订单，接近其每天所完成 的全球100万份订单的10%。 优步于2月份表示：在农历新年期间，大陆 中国人在境外使用优步叫车的数量增长了 1000%。 优步的劲敌滴滴出行于十月份击败优步成为 上海地区首款获得法律承认的叫车应用，拿到 了上海市交通委员会授予的牌照。滴滴立志成 为“全球最大的移动出行服务平台”，并正在 进军其它服务领域，包括专车、拼车以及巴士 服务等等。 去年二月份中国两大叫车公司——快的打车 和滴滴打车——兼并之后造就了当时估值约60 亿美元的滴滴出行。 不过，在全球许多城市（包括澳大利亚和中 国在内），拼车仍处于灰色监管地带，或者完 全被视为违法行为。最终的监管环境远未尘埃 落定。 滴滴出行的崛起显然令优步的全球霸权之路 蒙上了一层阴影。 H I G H E R V I EW B USINESS | 79