A man dubbed the 'New York Taxi King' because of his huge fleet of yellow cabs has blasted Uber as a 'nasty and morally corrupt company.'
Evgeny 'Gene' Freidman, 44, controls 860 yellow cabs cabs throughout New York City and makes money by leasing them.
But he is facing increased competition from Uber because it's threatening to destroy the hold yellow cabs have had on the market.
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Evgeny (Gene) Freidman, 44, pictured, controls 860 yellow cabs cabs throughout New York City and makes money by leasing them
Freidman said he is planning to launch a fightback against app-based company Uber and will create an e-hail app for his New York City cabs, a few of his cabs are pictured here,
Freidman, pictured here, grudgingly admits that Uber's business model does have advantages over the yellow cab industry because it can hike fares at will
He blasts: '[Uber] is the nastiest, most morally corrupt company ever.'
In an interview with , Freidman grudgingly admits that Uber's business model does have advantages over the yellow cab industry because it can hike fares at will.
He believes that Uber - which is already valued at $50 billion - is simply not playing fair.
Uber entered the New York market in 2011 and just three years later began poaching yellow cab customers by lowering prices and expanding its fleet, JetBlack from 7,000 to 16,000.
It now has more than 20,000 cars and while Freidman says he welcomes the competitive pressure, he is having to work extra hard just to compete.
From June 2013 to June 2015, monthly New York City Uber ridership increased to 3.5 million. During that time, taxi pickups dipped from 14 million to 12 million.