Med City Taxi Responds To Uber and Lyft Presence in Rochester

Let's address the elephant in the room: Uber and Lyft are officially in Rochester and that means competition for local taxi services. There's been a lot of excitement over these online transportation network companies (TNC) but Med City Taxi isn't going anywhere. In fact, they're looking at the new competition to drive them to focus on what really matters - the customer.

Adam Pierce, Operations Manager at Med City Taxi shared his thoughts on the new competition, "For a long time we fought it, even though we do not agree with the decision to let them in, it is a fact that they are now here. We must learn to compete with them like all new competition that has come to the Rochester Taxi market in the past 9 years."

Uber and Lyft did not happen overnight. There was a taxicab ordinance restricting transportation network companies from operating in Rochester. Last October, the City Council finally decided to hear the proposal for TNC to operate in the city with a modified ordinance similar to St. Pauls. After rigorous and sometimes heated discussions, the modified ordinance was finally passed early December 2016. Rochester streets started seeing new drivers on the road for Uber and Lyft the last couple of weeks.

Consumers are excited about the new options. Christi Jorde said "I used Lyft in Rochester and it was fantastic. My ride was only $5 to downtown. I love that you can tip the drivers. The Lyft driver pulled up onto a curb so I wouldn't have to step in any snow (I was wearing heels)." Sherri Halleland added "Rates were half what I would have paid taxi. Drivers were polite and prompt."

Med City Taxi is willing to work to gain and retain consumers though. When asked how Med City Taxi would differentiate themselves from Uber and Lyft, Pierce said "We have been offering discounts for booking on our app via our Facebook page.  We have also been reminding our drivers and dispatchers to focus on customer service."

And that's really what it's all about, providing excellent service to customers. Competition is healthy and it's nice to see options in Rochester; they're willing to work for you.