Generally, I feel as though Uber and Lyft improved the taxi landscape most places; however, it’s really easy to see degradation in service as they’re trying to become profitable.

The other day I canceled a Lyft because the driver was taking too long. He came up and started screaming at us, swearing at us for canceling. I reported the issue to Lyft as a safety issue: they gave no indication they dealt with the driver: just a $5 coupon and an apology.

I recently wrote on here about the terribly unaccountable process of reporting cabs via TLC in New York. Uber and Lyft are quickly realizing that same level of unaccountability as they realize the reality of scaling such a business. I wonder within this frame whether the improvements to taxi service we’ve seen with Uber were just temporary: disappearing as they scale and become profitable.