Ride-Sharing Company Sidecar Gives Up on Competing With Uber and Lyft

It’s the end of the road for Sidecar.

A new coalition is gathering signatures and demanding changes after the Austin City Council passed new regulations, which have Uber and Lyft promising to eventually leave town. When we first started covering the industry in November 2013, we spoke to a driver who said he made an average of $30 an hour driving 20-25 hours per week for the company.

I used to use the service quite often when I lived in Maryland, just outside of Washington D.C. 3-4 days out of the week, I was worked at a restaurant and would get out of work much later than the last ride on the red line train.

“They’re competing with very heavily funded companies, and they didn’t have the same pull with drivers that these other companies might have”, said Nikhil Krishnan, a technology analyst at CB Insights. But when you power on your smartphone, you’re likely to have called on an Uber or Lyft.

Sidecar was only able to muster $35 million in funding while Uber rode to a $62.5 billion market valuation.

Earlier this year, Sidecar sought to diversify by enabling its drivers to deliver groceries, flowers and other goods – and later added marijuana in jurisdictions where it is legal.

Paul and Khanna wrote they would now “work on strategic alternatives and lay the groundwork for the next big thing”, without specifying what that might be.

“This is the end of the road for the Sidecar ride and delivery service, but it’s by no means the end of the journey for the company”, wrote the co-founders in the joint blog post.

Rideshare and delivery company Sidecar announced on Tuesday that it would be shuttering its services at 2pm Pacific Time, December 31, 2015.