The downside of taxi apps abroad and likely anywhere

Taxi apps are an absolutely wonderful part of the travel environment and makes travel around or even between cities much easier than it was back before smartphones existed. For the most part I absolutely love that they exist but I also recognize something that I am seeing more and more when I travel, and that is that the "new crew" of taxi drivers don't really know where they are going and create a traffic nuisance for everyone else on the road.

There are many apps that people use for easy digital taxis but the main ones are Uber and Lyft in the parts of the world that I travel in, and Grab and inDrive are the more popular ones that I have noticed in Asia.

The notion is the same no matter where you go though, get to and from wherever you need to go in a no nonsense sort of way.

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I was reading an article in the NY Post about how this is a problem in all cities but anytime I hear about it happening in somewhere like New York City I presume it is just traditional taxi drivers moaning about how they are no longer the only players in the game. However, they do have a valid point these drivers: They are considerably more experienced at this job and don't rely on a map app to get them where they are going.

I once sat and spoke with a younger man in Mexico who had been a London cab driver for many years. He informed me that in order to get the license to have this job, you had to pass vigorous tests about knowledge of the roads and alternate methods of getting to almost anywhere in the city. If you didn't know the city like the back of your hand, you did not get the license and that was that.

nowadays, anyone with a car and a phone can be a tax a taxi driver and I think that plenty of you out there have been in the car where the driver seems completely perplexed by where it is that you are going and follows the "turn left, turn right, go straight" instructions the same way that you would even though this person lives in that city and presumably drives around quite a lot.

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All around the world there have been "regular taxi" protests where they were seeking to ban rideshare apps. The picture above is one from Mexico city where the drivers intentionally blocked traffic in protest.

Now here is where I start to not be on the side of the "real" taxi drivers. It is no secret that there are a lot of taxi con-artists around the world. And even this grizzled intrepid and very experienced global traveler (me) has been ripped of many many times. This was always at the hands of a licensed taxi driver with some seriously sneaky tricks. With rideshare apps, you always know exactly how much it is going to cost before you ever even get in the car and this is a major load off of people's minds when they are traveling, this much is for sure.

However, I have been in so many places in the world where there is someone selfishly blocking an entire lane of traffic, such as on a 2-lane road where traffic has to go both directions, and is making zero effort to try to move over to the side to allow other cars and motorbikes to pass them. They are going to stay there as long as it takes for their riders to either get in or alight so that they can make their fare and this slows everyone down and creates irritation for everyone on that road. Road rage eventually ensues as well.

The solution that medallian-holding taxi drivers have suggested is that rideshare people should have to pass some sort of test before they can become a driver and honestly, I would be ok with that, provided that it doesn't raise the prices too much amiright?

In the end I am happy that this service exists but it seems that very often I am in a cab, even if I am going somewhere that the driver really should know, something like say, one of the largest shopping malls in the entire city... yet they seem completely bewildered about where such an establishment might be and just drive according to what the app suggests they do, even though it is obviously not the best way of getting there.

These drivers don't benefit form this lack of knowledge either, because they are not paid for wasted time that you spend in the cab either.

I have a difficult time sympathizing with traditional taxi drivers though, because these people have been ripping off the public, especially tourists, since as long as motor cars have existed. But I do agree with them that rideshare apps shouldn't have drivers that are completely clueless about where anything is. This causes additional congestion that otherwise might not exist and I don't know about you, but I am not a big fan of traffic jams.

What would be a good solution to this in your mind? I'm on board with the certain level of map competency in one's city where they want to drive for a rideshare app. What do you think?