Originally Posted by
bdschobel
"Proving" a lack of demand is nearly impossible, as you must know. How much demand was there for personal computers before they existed? Uber and Lyft (and are there others?) are so new and growing so quickly that looking to the past to gauge demand is foolhardy.
Bruce
This leads to my concern about having a separate forum. Sure, the Uber phenomenon has been transformational but it is not unique. I live in a large European metropolitan centre - we have Uber. I suppose I am a little blasé about booking a taxi on the go because in the last couple of years I have also been able to book train tickets, bus tickets, taxis and other private hire journeys on the go, so Uber or the concept of smart phone booking is by no means unique or magical to me. It is just one example amongst many others where technology has enhanced our lives.
As a non-mandarin speaking visitor to Shanghai, Uber has been a god send. It has removed the frustration of translation and miscommunication from the transaction and I am comforted knowing my driver knows exactly where I wish to go and how to get there. This is a contextually dependent example well understood and covered in the China forum. My fear is the invaluable local knowledgebases will not port over to the proposed generic forum.