Taxi companies rebound amid Uber difficulties

SEATTLE – The negative news raining down on ride-service provider Uber as Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles County sue the company puts a smile on the face of Seattle Yellow Cab General Manager Amin Shifow.

Seattle taxi-industry revenue took a 40 percent dive during the first year the San Francisco-based company, along with competitors Lyft and Sidecar, used phone apps to dispatch hundreds of unlimited and unregulated ride services.

So he doesn’t mind seeing the startup, reportedly valued at $18 billion, squirm a little. But Shifow’s also smiling because he thinks the backlash against Uber is happening at just the right time.

Yellow Cab’s 2-month-old ride-request is humming along without glitches, Shifow said. And, he said, thanks to a switch to GPS-dictated driver assignments, average response times within the city have almost been cut in half.

Advertising for the service is showing up on cabs. “Tap the App,” the signs read.

The free application for iPhone and Android phones incorporates features long available on Uber, Lyft and Sidecar apps: It automatically locates where a passenger is requesting a ride from, allows passengers to track on a map how close their driver is to arriving and soon will allow riders to pay through the app as well.

Shifow admits Seattle Yellow Cab wouldn’t be resurrecting itself with much-needed upgrades had such app-based ride services as Uber and Lyft not come to town in spring 2013.

“In all honesty, the taxi industry was stagnant for a while: They had it good, there was no competition and, when you have no competition, there’s nothing for you to worry about,” said Shifow. “But the competition came in at the same time, and it came in hard with unlicensed, unlimited cabs all of a sudden hitting the road – that was tough.”