What Uber Can Learn From Airbnb
優步的教訓 民不與官鬥
By Mark Scott

Airbnb had more than 40,000 listings in Paris, making its most popular destination for travelers. City officials applaud it for bringing innovation to the hotel industry.
短期租屋平台Airbnb在它最受旅人歡迎的目的地巴黎，房源資訊超過四萬筆。巴黎官方讚揚Airbnb給城市的飯店業帶來創新。

Uber, on the other hand, has been denounced by French officials and set off violent protests by taxi drivers.
另一方面，叫車服務公司優步始終備受官方譴責，並引發計程車司機的暴力抗議。

The companies, born in San Francisco, are now two of the largest entrants in the so-called on-demand economy, in which services are available at the touch of a smartphone button.
同樣誕生於舊金山的這兩家公司，目前是所謂的「按需經濟」的兩位大腕，「按需經濟」意指觸碰智慧型手機的按鈕就能獲得服務。

But, as they have expanded rapidly around the world, they have relied on contrasting strategies with regulators.
兩家公司在全球快速擴張，面對主管機關的策略卻迥然不同。

Since it began in 2009, Uber a ride-hailing service, has entered city after city, with a largely catch-me-if-you-can attitude. Airbnb, a home-sharing service, has instead tilted toward courting local politicians.
自從2009年成立以來，叫車業者優步攻城掠地的態度頗有「有本事就來抓」的味道。房屋分享服務業者Airbnb反倒傾向討好當地的政界人物。

Uber’s aggressive attitude has put it at odds with local leaders in many cities.
優步的挑釁態度導致它和許多城市的領導人不對盤。

“A lot of these start-ups initially don’t think much about regulation,” said Thilo Koslowski, head of the automotive practice at Gartner, a technology research company in California. “It’s all about having a punch strategy. They do things first, then ask questions later. As they mature, that starts to change.”
「許多這類新創公司一開始對法令規章想得不多，」加州科技產業研究公司顧能公司汽車業務負責人西羅．柯斯羅斯基說。「它們一心想的策略是搶先出招。都是事情先做，然後再問問題。隨著這些公司日漸成熟，這種情況也開始改變。」

Airbnb has not gone unscathed. It has faced clampdowns in American cities like New York, where some have argued that Airbnb rentals could reduce the amount of long-term housing in the city. And last year, Airbnb was fined in Europe for the first time for violating a law in the Catalonia region of Spain that forbids renting individual rooms for tourism purposes.
Airbnb一路走來並非毫髮無傷。它在紐約這樣的美國城市一直面臨嚴格取締，某些人認為，Airbnb的出租業務可能會使紐約長期住宅的數量減少。去年，因為違反西班牙加泰隆尼亞區禁止把個人房間出租給觀光客的的法律，Airbnb在歐洲首度被處以罰款。

Initially, the start-up had limited contact with local regulators, finding few who understood its business. But by 2012, shortly after its Paris listings began growing quickly, Airbnb opened an office in the city and started speaking regularly with local authorities.
起初，Airbnb不太與當地主管機關打交道，找不到幾個真懂得這一行的人。但是到了2012年，巴黎的房源開始迅速增長後不久，Airbnb在當地設置辦事處，開始與當地政府部門進行經常性的接洽。

Now, to clamp down on illegal vacation rentals, a team of investigators in Paris regularly conducts inspections, with fines of up to $28,000 for people who break the law, a rule that Airbnb supports. In addition, by early 2016, the company will start collecting a tourist tax from its users on behalf of Paris authorities.
如今，為了嚴打非法的度假屋出租業者，巴黎調查小組定期抽檢，違法者最高可能面臨2.8萬美元的罰款，Airbnb也支持相關規定。另外，從2016年初起，這家公司將開始代表巴黎市政府向承租者收取觀光稅。

This approach with regulators is “about finding partners within governments that understand the sharing economy,” said Patrick Robinson, head of public policy in Europe for Airbnb.
Airbnb歐洲公共政策負責人派翠克．羅賓森表示，這種跟主管機關打交道的方式，「目的是在政府內部找到懂得分享經濟的夥伴」。

Uber began operating in France in late 2011. Two years later, lawmakers were trying to put limits on the service, proposing new rules that would force any ride-booking service like Uber to wait at least 15 minutes before drivers could pick up new passengers, giving traditional taxi drivers a head start.
優步從2011年年底開始在法國營運。兩年後，立法機構試圖限制優步的叫車，建議的新規定強制要求優步這樣的叫車預訂服務至少必須等待15分鐘，司機才能開始搭載新乘客，藉此讓傳統的計程車司機可以搶先起跑。

Last year, executives from the company began holding increasingly regular meetings with French lawmakers, part of a larger effort by the company to better engage regulators. By then, though, the pressure that had been applied by well-connected taxi groups had mostly won in France.
去年，優步的高階主管開始不斷增加與法國立法機關的常態會議次數，更大的目標則是改善與主管機關的互動。然而，人脈深厚的計程車業團體施加的壓力，當時在法國已經贏得差不多了。

A new transport law, which went into force this year, requires all chauffeurs to have a professional license and forbids drivers to use geolocation software to show the whereabouts of their cars, rules that essentially prevent drivers for UberPop, the company’s low-cost service, from working legally. Authorities in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands also have banned Uber’s low-cost offering.
今年生效的新交通運輸法要求所有司機必須持有營業執照，同時限制司機使用地理定位軟體顯示自己車子的所在位置，新法讓優步的低價服務「人人優步」的司機根本不能合法營業。德國、西班牙以及荷蘭的主管機關同樣禁止優步的低價服務。

Uber’s problems escalated earlier this month, when French taxi drivers blocked roads, burned tires and attacked likely Uber drivers. Two of the company’s senior executives in France also were detained.
法國計程車司機這個月封鎖道路，焚燒輪胎，攻擊認定是優步的司機，優步的麻煩惡化，法國優步的兩名高階主管被羈押。

“Any government can shut you down, so you have to be willing to play the regulatory game,” said Gerald R. Faulhaber, professor emeritus of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “There’s no way around that.”
「隨隨便便哪個政府都能叫你關門大吉，所以必須配合主管機關演出，」賓州大學商業經濟學及公共政策名譽教授傑拉德．R．福爾哈柏說：「根本閃不掉」。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/technology/what-uber-can-learn-from-airbnbs-global-expansion.html

2015-07-21聯合報/G9版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 張佑生譯 原文參見紐時週報八版右