Ridesourcing and the Taxi Marketplace

Abstract

The creation of ridesourcing firms Uber and Lyft greatly disrupted the taxicab marketplace in the United States over the past four years. By examining the taxicab marketplace, as well as the ridesourcing firm’s aspects of creative destruction, the marketplace’s drastic changes become apparent. Thus, 21st century technology disrupts the marketplace, and creates a real time market based on supply and demand factors. Furthermore, disruption impacts all actors within the previous taxicab marketplace as well as the newly created ridesourcing marketplace; therefore, ridesourcing’s widespread effects are examined in detail.