The popular transportation company Uber has faced a negative backlash online following its attempt to conduct business during a taxi strike at the John F. Kennedy airport in New York.
Uber faces backlash
In reaction to President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning migrants from several Muslim-majority countries, the NY Taxi Workers Alliance called for a temporary strike of all service around JFK Airport on Saturday as part of nationwide-protests outside many major airports in the United States. Uber, however, continued business during the taxi's service disruption, as well as temporarily halting their "surge pricing" that goes into effect during times of high demand for their services.
Uber is an app downloaded onto a mobile device that allows the customer to request a ride, which automatically sends out to the closest nearby available cars. Employees use their own cars, and payment is automatically transferred from the customer to the driver. The service is available in around 545 cities worldwide, and it is estimated that the company employs around 36,000 drivers in the general New York city area.
Conflict between Uber and taxi companies
In response to Uber's continuation of their business during the NYC Taxi service disruption, many individuals online posted on social media about deleting their app for the transportation service. Many were highly critical of Uber's service continuation in light of ongoing protests.
Several hashtags briefly trended on Twitter in response to the criticism. This is the latest in a long line of conflicts between Uber and taxi services. Many local government have challenged the legality of the company, with many governments throughout North America charging their drivers with licensing infractions, and many local police departments launching crackdowns.
Many taxi services across the world have periodically engaged in protest against the company threatening their industry and livelihood. It has also sparked a new trend of "Uberization" which has seen many companies adopting similar peer-to-peer services into their business model.
