One would be hard pressed to find a researcher, regulator, industry leader or member of civil society who thinks that the contest between traditional metered taxis and Uber would end in any other way. Uber's coup is a near certainty according to those who gathered at Wits University to share research and ideas on how the internet is changing social, economic and political relationships in Africa and around the world.
The subject of wrangling between Uber and meter taxi drivers came up very early during the World Internet Project Meeting yesterday when Wits Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Tawana Kupe declared his preference for Uber as he delivered the welcome address.
"I'm one of those people who has left the metered taxis...the old meter taxi industry might be a thing of the past if those taxi drivers are not careful. " said Kupe, who also remarked that inclusivity is not something that comes naturally to technological innovations because innovation and development tend to mirror social divides and inequalities.
"The digital economy, we are always told, is the future and if you are not part of the digital economy, you are part of the old economy and you will fall behind." Kupe added.
Uber will win
ITWeb Africa spoke to World Internet Project founder and director of the Centre for the Digital Future Professor Jeff Cole on the sidelines of the conference - and he wasn't shy to make bold predictions about how Uber's challenge to the way the taxi business has always been done will end.
"...it's going to end with the technology and the technological companies' winning, Uber, Airbnb. But they are going to have to make some concessions. Uber is probably going to have their drivers licensed, there is probably going to be a certifying body to make sure they are insured, there will probably be some place you can go to complain but I think within that Uber is going to win."
The University of Southern California professor added in his praise of Uber that he will continue to make use of the taxi hailing app during his stay in South Africa, including in Cape Town next week. He also equated the discontent expressed by metered taxi drivers to resistance by horse carriage businesses to cars over a hundred years ago.
It became clear at the conference that the anxiety experienced by South African metered taxi drivers is not unique as the director of the Society and Internet Programme at Uruguay's Catholic University's Matias Dodel told the audience that he had underestimated the mistrust of ICT's in his home country.
That mistrust he said, came from teachers who were part of the programme to get one laptop to every child in Uruguay. Many of them did not see ICT's as a tool that can help them teach better according to Dodel.
The 2015 Wits Internet Week concludes tomorrow.
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