Uber's Success is Closing Down Home Town's Largest Taxi Company, Almost Bankrupt

By J. Navarra | Jan 09, 2016 09:00 PM EST

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In today's need for convenience in an advancing generation, hailing a cab may be a thing of the past and it may happen soon in San Francisco, Uber's own home town.

Today, people "uber" a cab on their mobile smart phones and users no longer stand out in the corner and stretch an arm out trying to get the attention of the yellow car with black and white sides. Because of this, Yellow Cab Co-Op, the longest running yellow taxi company serving San Francisco, may soon file for bankruptcy.

This is the most visible sign that Uber is covering the market fast. Yellow Cab Co-Op is getting ready to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In a letter to its shareholders, Pamela Martinez, the company's president released a statement regarding the operational and financial status of the company:

We are in a midst of serious financial setbacks. Some are due to business challenges beyond our control and others are of our own making. Today we are faced with fiscal obligations that far exceed expected income.

The taxi is a coop with about 300 shareholders co-owning it. These shareholders have not received their dividends since October of last year. This was the state of the company at the time James Gillespie was president of the cab company who was then replaced by Martinez. Gillespie still remains with the company as its general manager. 

Martinez stresses that the yellow cab is still the best taxi brand in the city, transporting more than 5 million passengers annually and they are making an effort to rake them all back in with the best customer service they can experience. She further explains that the company must make the extra effort to be more welcoming and responsive. Which means that their drivers must smile and be happy to be driving. 

We must get the public to smile when they think of Yellow Cab.

Even if Uber and Lyft is not mentioned in the letter but other Yellow Cab companies in New York and Chicago have already filed for bankruptcy, as reports have indicated.

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