The trouble is, as competition increases, ride-hailing becomes a commodity business. Customers care little whether they ride with Uber or Lyft, as long as it gets them from a to b. That means neither ?rm can easily increase pro?ts by raising fares, but may instead have to o?er discounts. Likewise, the ride-hailing ?rms do not own their cars: their drivers do, and so have no reason to be loyal. That forces the ?rms to pile on incentives to stop drivers from deserting, kicking pro?ts even further down the road.

問題是，隨著競爭加劇，叫車服務(wù)變成了一項(xiàng)大宗商品業(yè)務(wù)。顧客并不在乎他們是乘坐優(yōu)步還是Lyft，只要它能把他們從a帶到b。這意味著這兩家公司都不能通過提高票價(jià)輕松增加利潤，而是或許不得不提供折扣。同樣，網(wǎng)約車公司并不擁有他們的汽車而是司機(jī)們各自有汽車，因此司機(jī)沒有理由對公司忠誠。這迫使這些公司加大激勵(lì)政策，阻止司機(jī)退出，以至于在今后的發(fā)展之路上不得不進(jìn)一步縮減利潤。

詞匯

down the road/【非正式】在將來，今后

Throughout taxi history, the answer to such a race to the bottom has been regulation. In 1635 the number of Hackney carriages in London was restricted to reduce congestion (Taylor must have breathed a sigh of relief). In 1937 the Haas Act introduced the medallion system in New York, putting strict curbs on the number of medallions and driving up their value. Recently the city’s regulators have moved to control ride-hailing, capping the number of vehicles and introducing a minimum wage for drivers. That could become a trend.

縱觀出租車行業(yè)的歷史，對于這種“打破底線”的競爭，結(jié)局閑來是監(jiān)管。1635年，倫敦限制了出租馬車的數(shù)量，以減少交通堵塞(泰勒一定松了一口氣)。1937年，《哈斯法案》(Haas Act)在紐約引入了獎(jiǎng)?wù)轮贫龋瑖?yán)格限制了獎(jiǎng)?wù)碌臄?shù)量，并推高了它們的價(jià)值。最近，該市的監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)已經(jīng)開始控制網(wǎng)約車，限制車輛數(shù)量，并為司機(jī)引入最低工資。這可能成為一種趨勢。

詞匯

race to the bottom/打破底線

Congestion/擁擠；擁塞；

So much for the past. What about the future? Uber’s foray into Uber Eats, its food-delivery service, may be an even tougher business proposition than ride-hailing; it has to give restaurateurs a cut of each sale, as well as drivers. Its core measure of revenue at Uber Eats fell in the second half of 2018 compared with the ?rst half. That was not encouraging. The ?rm is expanding into broader mobility services, such as scooters and electric bikes, and is building a platform that includes public transport, so customers can travel more seamlessly across a city. But again, competition will be intense: city governments will be loth to link access to their public-transport systems to a single platform, for safety, data-privacy and other reasons.

過去就是這樣。未來呢?Uber進(jìn)軍其外賣服務(wù)Uber Eats，可能比叫車服務(wù)更難做;它必須讓餐館老板和司機(jī)從每筆銷售中分得一杯羹。2018年下半年，其衡量優(yōu)步餐飲收入的核心指標(biāo)同比下降。這并不鼓舞人心。該公司正在向小型摩托車和電動(dòng)自行車等更廣泛的移動(dòng)服務(wù)領(lǐng)域擴(kuò)張，并正在打造一個(gè)包括公共交通在內(nèi)的平臺，以便客戶能夠更無縫地在城市間旅行。但同樣，競爭將是激烈的:出于安全、數(shù)據(jù)隱私和其他原因，城市政府將不愿將其公共交通系統(tǒng)接入單一平臺。

詞匯

Foray/涉足，初次嘗試；

Scooters/踏板車；小輪摩托車；滑行艇

Uber’s long-term goal is autonomous vehicles (avs), which would reduce its need to share revenues with human drivers. On April 18th Toyota and other investors put $1bn into Uber’s av division. On April 22nd Tesla unveiled plans to roll out robotaxis next year. That promise is subject to huge regulatory uncertainty, plus an Elon Musk bravado discount. But many other companies are keen to enter the fray. Expect ?sticu?s.

優(yōu)步的長期目標(biāo)是自動(dòng)駕駛汽車(avs)，這將減少它與真人司機(jī)分享收入的環(huán)節(jié)。4月18日，豐田和其他投資者向優(yōu)步的自動(dòng)駕駛汽車部門注資10億美元。4月22日，特斯拉公布了明年推出機(jī)器人出租車的計(jì)劃。這一承諾受制于巨大的監(jiān)管不確定性，加上埃隆?馬斯克(Elon Musk)虛張聲勢的打折。但許多其他公司也熱衷于加入這一行列。期待大打出手。

?詞匯

?sticu?s/拳擊，拳斗；互毆；一擊

Too Uber to fail

太多的優(yōu)步打車導(dǎo)致了失敗

?

Uber will surely have a place in the future of transport. It may be able to increase rider and driver loyalty by replacing fares with monthly subscriptions. It may settle for dominating some cities, leaving others to rivals, provided that does not violate antitrust rules. History suggests that pro?ts will be hard to come by. But at least its name should live on, just as Taylor’s hated Hackney “Hellcarts” do in London’s black cabs, 400 years later.

優(yōu)步肯定會在未來的交通領(lǐng)域占有一席之地。它可能會通過月票來取代票價(jià)，從而提高乘客和司機(jī)的忠誠度。在不違反反壟斷規(guī)則的情況下，它可能滿足于控制一些城市，而將其他城市留給競爭對手。歷史表明，利潤將很難獲取。但至少它的名字應(yīng)該流傳下來，就像400年后泰勒討厭的哈克尼“地獄車”在倫敦的黑色出租車?yán)镆粯印?/p>