The AAdvantage Cadillac Test Drive Promotion Has Ended
It seems that every single blog has written about the AAdvantage Cadillac 7,500 mile test drive. Perhaps it is the popularity of the program or maybe the dealerships just don’t like seeing so many people show up for freebies, however Gary reports that promotion has ended just 9 days after it began.
In my experience this promotion has been a little mishandled. When the promotion first launched, people were waiting for hours on hold with the Cadillac Concierge to schedule a test drive. I wrote about using Cadillac’s chat to bypass the hold times, but they stopped allowing it at some point.
Then many people including myself went to the dealerships for their scheduled test drives only to learn that they had never heard of the promo. To be fair, many other people had great experiences with their test drives. While we may never know why they shut down the promotion so soon, it is now over. Hopefully you were able to get your free miles!
Uber Comes & Goes from Nevada
Another hot story yesterday was Uber’s commencement of service in Las Vegas, Reno & Carson City, Nevada. I live in Las Vegas and have followed along as Uber has advertised for drivers and been looking to launch their service for over a year. Nevada has strict licensing requirements that have prevented them from providing service in the state.
I’m not sure why they chose yesterday to start, however their service was met with a forceful backlash from regulators. A number of Uber cars were stopped by taxicab authority regulators and ticketed. Then District Court Judge James Russell blocked Uber from operating until November 7, 2014. A hearing is now set for November 6.
The Taxi Authority
Nevada has a highly regulated taxi industry. You may think this is to protect consumers, however it is not. Most of the regulations currently in place serve to protect the taxi companies. For example, rules dictate how many cabs are allowed on the street. This limits how many companies can operate and helps to maintain current profit margins. The taxi companies have also fought forcefully against an extension of the Las Vegas Monorail to the airport for the same reason.
In many ways Nevada has always been a “good old boys” type of place. Of course that isn’t completely the case anymore with the expansion of corporate control in the city, however that attitude still exists. The taxi companies have huge lobbying arms and will fight Uber and any other company that comes in. Hopefully the courts will rightfully sort this out.
Uber contends that they simply provide a technology platform which connects drivers to passengers. We will see how the courts look at that claim and how Nevada handles an issue which has already been solved in most other cities across the country. The Uber concept works. Nevada needs to get with the times.
In my opinion, Las Vegas needs Uber. It provides an alternative to the corrupt taxi system here and one that is desperately needed. While other tourist oriented cities have improved transport options to attract more visitors, Las Vegas has lagged behind in that department. It really is shameful. What do you think? Will Uber prevail in court?
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[…] a year ago Uber decided to launch their service in Las Vegas despite it sort of being against the law. At first their drivers were harassed and ticketed and […]
[…] am a Las Vegas local and have followed the Uber launch here in Nevada pretty carefully. Within 24 hours of their launch, the local taxicab authority […]
I for one am not a fan of Uber. Maybe I should not judge them from my 2 S.Cal rides which were as scary as any 3rd World crazy cabby dangerous cab ride. A 3rd attempt at using Uber was a no show as he picked someone else at the ship terminal we were at, causing us to miss our flight home…………Las Vegas cabs on the other hand have always been there when I have needed them over the last 40 years. Drivers were always professional and the cabs were clean and not smelly. Prices seemed fair……Las Vegas needs regulation, if they eased up on that in L.V. cab industry, all hell would break loose. It would only be a matter of time before it would be over run with gypsy cabs run by anyone with a car. The traffic on the Strip is already gridlocked…………….Now if they could also do something about those derelicts posing for pictures in their superhero costumes………