Uber Fights: The Inside Story of the Regulators vs Rogue Apps

By 2010, the taxi industry had grown into a stockpile of cash that everyone was trying to shovel into their own wheel barrow. Cab companies and medallion owners charged drivers for the privilege of using a cab, and in the process, they put pressure on government regulators to keep the supply of cabs low as city populations grew. Taxi drivers were forced into subsistence living, and they too wanted as little competition on the streets as possible. The regulators were the gatekeepers who did everything in their power to make sure no "bandits" crashed their party. But then a tech startup originally called "UberCab" did just that. The entire industry had met a common enemy, and suddenly, every taxi gatekeeper across the country had a clear mandate: remove the unwanted guest. This is the story of how and why taxi regulators moved against Uber, as well as the tactics Uber employed to move forward. It also reveals how regulators picked sides and coordinated with one another, how Uber built public pressure against them, and how the politics of the tech industry came into play. As a case study for other disruptive startup companies, this story dispassionately answers the who, why, and how of TNC resistance.