InTheCapital

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

We’re admittedly a day or so behind on this, but given all the attention we’ve given to the Uber-DC cab saga, we feel like it’s only right we bring to light the findings of DC councilwoman, Mary Cheh’s DC Cab satisfaction survey. Spoiler Alert: the results are dismal…at best.

After surveying 4025 people, the results were overwhelmingly negative toward DC cabs. 36% of respondents said service was poor and only 22% felt the service was respectable. 

Hmmm…I wonder why they’re losing customers to Uber?

94% of residents were in favor of legislation that would improve service in the District and parts of Maryland and Virginia. If I were the DC cab commission, I’d be paying close attention to this survey.

DCist had this choice quote from a survey participant about cab service:

“It is incredibly frustrating when I am in DC and need to take a cab to Virginia (Arlington, specifically). I was once turned down by five cabs in a row because they prefer getting no fare from a paying customer rather than just a one-way fare since they can’t pick up in Virginia. Cabs should not be allowed to refuse a fare!”

We never want to appear that we’re ranting here at InTheCapital, but these results have to be a wake up call for the cab commission. At the end of the day the cab commission is running a business. Like any business, customer satisfaction has to be taken into account. With the arrival of Uber (who will probably win their battle with DC—as they DO operate legally in the District), there will be competition for service in the city.

As a website that celebrates innovation, we find it deplorable that the cab commission feels no need to provide a quality product to their customers. The absence of credit card machines and drivers who know the geography of the city is unacceptable for a service in a city as large and well-known as Washington DC. Adapt or die. As cliche as that might sound, it is a critical component of running a business. The DC cab commission has no right to a monopoly of service in the District and their ire toward a service like Uber is disgraceful given their refusal to innovate and provide the best possible service to their customer. We understand that such change can be difficult and adapting to new competition can be daunting for an established company, but that’s business…plain and simple…you have to earn success. Don’t expect it just because you’ve been around longer.

See the full results below.

Taxi Survey Results FINAL

inside the @Uber_DC scrum at Shadow Bar. video down below.

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

Last night, literally hundreds of DC residents crammed into Shadow Room on K Street to show Uber’s DC branch some serious love. As we’ve been covering extensively over the past few weeks, Uber, the popular app and company that allows you to find town car-style sedans, has come under fire from the DC cab commission for ‘operating illegally’. We’re kinda biased here at InTheCapital, but to us we read ‘operating illegally’ as ‘stealing business’. But that’s a story for another day. 

The fight between Uber and DC city government has picked up serious traction in papers and magazines and websites both local and national. The support from District residents has been very vocal as well. On a recent call with Twitter’s DC Government liaison, Adam Sharp, he noted that Uber fan response on Twitter was one of the best instances he’d seen of “a customer base reaching out in their defense.”

Hoping to capitalize on this, Uber was savvy enough to invite folks to come out last night to the swanky club, Shadow Room and drink at their open bar from 6 to 8:30pm. The only caveat? They’d have to listen to a presentation from Uber Founder, Travis Kalanick. The people came and the booze flowed heartily. Here is some video proof:

Uber CEO Travis Speaks to DC from InTheCapital on Vimeo.

Takeaway: Travis gave a stellar presentation to an absolutely rabid crowd of younger, yuppies. It wasn’t exactly clear whether the partygoers absolutely LOVED Uber or completely HATED the DC cab commission (we think it’s a mix of both), but the love showered down on Uber so heavily that Kalanick joked at one point, “I wish I could just live in this moment forever.”

Uber further endeared themselves to their target audience of younger, accomplished working professionals with some free booze and pizza, and that support will be important down the line. Uber’s DC General Manager, Rachel Holt told us that they had to cap the event at 700 people and received loads more emails and calls requesting party invites. Travis will be back in town on Valentines day for a meeting with the DC government. You can bet we’ll be there to watch as it all goes down. For now though, we think that with fans as loyal as they were last night, Uber will be here to stay in DC.

By Carl Pierre / @carlpierre

Lo and behold, a few hours after my last post on Uber I found this letter that DC Council Member Cheh of Ward 3 wrote to Ron Linton of the D.C. Taxi Commission regarding their recent legal bout with UberDC. Suffice to say that Cheh recognizes how badly the District needs companies like Uber that demonstrate innovation. I love the last bit about introducing new legislation that will allow Uber to operate, talk about dropping the hammer on Linton’s head.

Viva Council Member Cheh!