This town ain't big enough for the both of us. Taxi app rivals Uber and Lyft have been accused of trying to sabotage each other by booking and cancelling thousands of rides. Source: Supplied
THE battle of the taxi apps is heating up, with Australia's Cabcharge issuing a new rant against ridesharing company Uber Australia.
It's no secret that Cabcharge has been in a turf war with start up rivals like Uber, GoCatch and Backseat.me for months but CEO Andrew Skelton upped the ante in a statement released earlier today, implying his competitors were unreliable pretenders.
"Some app-based business are notorious for different and unpredictable charges at different times, and for taking up to 20 percent of the driver's fare," he said. "To Cabcharge it's about ensuring your people are safe and your expenses are controllable.
"Cabcharge is constantly updating technologies and offers booking apps which are legal and accountable. In fact, apps like 13CABS, mTaxi and Silver Service have been available to Australians since 2009 and were built in-house at Cabcharge long before the so-called 'innovators' arrived."
But that's nothing compared to what's happening in the US where competition between Uber and Lyft have taken an ugly turn.
The companies, who offer cab rides that can be tracked and booked using a smartphone, are currently at war with accusations that both companies have been cancelling thousands of bookings to disrupt each other's service.
The reports come after CNNMoney obtained data that Uber employees allegedly ordered and cancelled more than 5,000 rides from Lyft since last October.
Fare play? Uber and Lyft accuse each other of sabotage. Source: Supplied
Lyft claims 177 Uber employees around the US have been getting up to the naughty shenanigans, including alleged Uber recruiters who were exposed by cross-referencing the phone numbers associated with the phantom customers.
Taxi! Lyft's cars are recognisable by their pink moustaches. Source: Supplied
One Lyft "passenger" who was identified by several different Lyft drivers as an Uber recruiter had a phone number attributed to 21 different accounts and cancelled over 1,500 rides.
This isn't the first time Uber has been accused of foul play after another black car rival service in New York called Gett claimed Uber attacked the company by doing the same booking and cancelling antics.
But, according to Uber, Lyft is no innocent victim. It has also accused Lyft employees of pulling the same dirty tricks by booking almost 13,000 fake Uber rides. Uber even claimed some of Lyft's investors were trying to convince Uber to purchase the rival service.
Has Uber been up to no good? Source: Supplied
Of course, both companies are quick to fling more mud by accusing each other of lying:
"Lyft's claims against Uber are baseless and simply untrue. Furthermore Lyft's own drivers and employees, including one of Lyft's founders, have cancelled 12,900 trips," Uber said in a statement.
In retort Lyft fired back: "Once again Uber is deceiving the public, now with false allegations and an attempt to deflect from their illegal cancel campaign."
To the outsider this all seems like quite a comical soap opera bust-up but the fake taxi bookings can play havoc with both these startup companies as it takes away their drivers' availability and could drive customers straight into the hands of their rival. If these allegations are true, it's an underhand tactic looking to decimate competition.
Like Pepsi and Coke, what Uber and Lyft offer is pretty much the same so there's going to be a bit of a catfight for survival. Uber stared out as a premium service using black luxury cars and is available in cities worldwide, while Lyft (currently only US based) was a cheaper alternative that employed private cars for hire recognisable by the big, pink, fuzzy moustache on the front of the vehicles.
Now, Uber has released its own version of this private service, called Uber X, and Lyft provides premium white luxury cars, while recently BOTH apps unveiled a ride-sharing feature.
They could try to play together nicely but we foresee the bickering to continue like sisters who don't agree.
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