BCBusiness

32 BCBusiness august 2015 sourcE: "sHaring is tHE nEW buying," vision critical, 2014 based on what buyers think they might get on the market in the future, not on what they can get from the "rent." That's quite a di"erent situation from other businesses confronting the sharing economy. Hotels might be worried about Airbnb, but Airbnb isn't busting up a closed shop. There's never been anything to stop anyone from open- ing a dozen new hotels or bed-and-breakfasts tomorrow alongside the existing ones. That's likely the reason why hotel associations in Vancouver and Seattle, for example, are far less militant than the taxi industry, opting for muted responses suggesting that cities should ensure they follow regulations and are safe. It's the same for restaurants or tradespeople or oŠce landlords, who are facing new opera- tions like Feastly, TaskRabbit or ShareDesk; they've always had to deal with the possibil- ity that someone will start up a new noodle shop, roving home-repair business or oŠce building. Those essential di"erences are why, for example, Portland decided to tackle regu- lation of Airbnb before Uber and why Seattle, like Vancouver, is essentially ignoring Airbnb for the moment. Airbnb is the easy thing. Uber et al. is the swamp. The taxi industry is also unusual because it's viewed as part of the transportation sys- tem. Disruption to it isn't like disruption to the restaurant business or the tool-rental business. "It is a semi-public utility," says Smith, down in Seattle. "And if it is part of the public trans- portation system, you need a market in place so everyone can make a living." If cities don't ensure that there's a fair regulation system for that market, says Smith, there's a risk that Uber will drive regular taxis out of business. And the city relies on regular taxis to provide an unstrat- i-ed form of transportation—one that will pick up disabled people, unpleasant drunks, teenag- ers stuck out in the suburbs and other custom- ers who aren't considered premium or may not get the highest rating from an Uber driver. (And it doesn't take much to get a low rating and driv- ers avoiding you. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times recently discovered she had a low rating because drivers said she kept them waiting—and that was enough to make it more diŠcult for her to get a driver willing to pick her up.) So there's that factor politicians have to consider. As well, they face pressure from the region's strong taxi companies, who are gener- ous campaign donors and dominated by a com- munity, the South Asian one, that is renowned for its political activity with the ruling political 23 million sHarErs in UK 80 million sHarErs in USA The World of Sharing 10 million sHarErs in CANADA Hotels might be worried about airbnb, but airbnb isn't busting up a closed shop. there's never been anything to stop anyone from open- ing a dozen new hotels or bed-and-breakfasts alongside the existing ones. that's likely the reason why hotel associations in vancouver and seattle, for example, are far less militant than the taxi industry Air BNB (Moscow) Air BNB (London) Air BNB Craigslist Rent the Runway Share A Desk Task Rabbit Lending Club Indie Gogo Kick Starter Crowd Funding Lyft (Miami) Sidecar (Chicago) Feastly (*includes re-sharers and neo-sharers)

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