It’s 7 p.m. on a Friday in Colorado Springs and Uber driver Simon Shah is ready to patrol for passengers. 

He’s tall with a shaved head, goatee and wireframe glasses. Though quiet by nature, the University of Colorado at Boulder graduate becomes animated when speaking of his favorite poems or quoting any line from Star Wars (the original trilogy, of course).

He drives a white 2006 Suzuki Aereo, for which a Han Solo line comes to mind.

“She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid,” Shah said. “It’s also remarkably puke resistant.”

Shah’s journey this evening will show why the traditional taxi industry in Colorado Springs may be in trouble. His clientele is made up millennial bar-goers who are the bread and butter of the Colorado Springs taxi industry. Every single one of Shah’s passengers vow they will never call a traditional taxi again.

Taxi companies have noticed.

“Big time hit. Big time,” said Saed Adukar, manager of Springs Cab. “Ask any driver and they will tell you that Uber impacted them really, really bad.”

Data on how much of a hit ride-sharing services have had on the taxi industry is unclear, however.

When Lyft and Uber came to Colorado Springs in spring 2014, the two existing Colorado Springs taxi companies combined recorded almost 26,000 fewer trips for the whole year than they did in 2011, according to data provided by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. But there were about 5,000 more area cab rides in 2014 than the previous year.

Data for 2015, after a full year of Uber and Lyft rides, was not available.

Shah, 36, didn’t set out to challenge the taxi business. He started driving Uber in Denver over the summer as a flexible way to earn money while he was in film school. It was an easy transition to keep the gig in Colorado Springs after he left school to come home and take care of his mother, who has cancer.

Uber is now Shah’s full-time job and he takes it seriously by patrolling for passengers late at night and early in the morning – times with the most demand and least competition.

He tries to keep his passengers happy with a stack of CDs that he knows are favorites (they like to sing along to songs they know) and by keeping the inside of the Aereo impeccably clean. The car is also filled with a strong Febreze scent dubbed “Midnight Storm” – which is great because Shah said his passengers love the smell and it helps keeps at bay the smell of alcohol that tends to waft off of them.

The first stop of the night is 7-Eleven for Shah to fill his Big Gulp cup with Mountain Dew to keep him caffeinated and awake for the evening. Then he heads downtown – where the most requests come from – because the closest driver is selected when a ride is requested.

There are more passengers, and money, for Uber drivers in Denver, but Shah knows he’ll stay pretty busy if he hangs out near Tejon Street on a weekend night. On this particular night, he’s hopeful that the Christmas festivities downtown will prompt tech-savvy customers to use the app on their phones and ping him for a ride.

The longer their trips, the better the bottom line for him.

Near the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, Shah’s phone starts pinging.

Sara wants to be picked up near Gasoline Alley bar on Tejon Street. Shah accepts the request and heads that way. When outside the bar, he parks in the center lane and puts on his hazard lights. Sara will know it’s him because the app gave her a picture of Shah along with a description of the car and a map showing exactly where he is parked.

Sara Rappaport quickly spots Shah’s vehicle and jumps in the backseat. She’s from Washington, D.C., where she used Uber all the time.

“I never have to wait very long for a ride,” Rappaport said on the mile-long ride to her house east of downtown.

When she gets to the house, Rappaport jumps out the car. She doesn’t have to worry about having cash because her credit card is registered with the app. She paid about $6 for the ride – about 80 percent of which goes to Shah.

A lot of Shah’s rides are like this: friendly people who need a ride home. Most have been drinking, but he’s had only one incident where a woman threw up in the car. For that, Uber gave him a $50 cleaning fee.

After the first ride on this Friday evening, things are slow after Shah gets back to downtown. He typically uses the downtime between pings to play Words with Friends on his phone or stream a movie. He knows things will pick up as the evening wears on. Sometimes he gets lucky and someone wants a ride to Denver International Airport – a decent payout. Other times, Shah has short rides with the minimum fare, some of which don’t even cover the gas money it takes to get to where they are located and drive them.

When things really get busy and there’s a shortage of drivers, Uber has a price surge where drivers can make much more than their usual rate. On Halloween night, prices were about eight times higher than normal and Shah had one of his best nights ever. Times like that are when being an Uber driver helps. Traditional taxis aren’t allowed to change prices based on demand.

About 8 p.m. Shah is pinged again, chosen because his proximity and because of his high Uber rating. Shah has a nearly perfect rating score from the hundreds of passengers who have given him a review. His favorite review: “Dude called my friend out for liking ‘The Phantom Menace.’ He’s a … hero in my book.”

The passengers this time are a woman and man heading to their home a mile northeast of downtown.

“It’s cheaper and it’s easier to get an Uber than a cab,” Ben Leonard said after he got in Shah’s car.

After that ride, things start picking up and the rides get longer, which makes Shah happy. He picks up Kyle Callahan, a jovial 26-year-old who wants to go to his home near Fillmore Street and Centennial Boulevard

To him, Uber feels personal, like picking up a friend.

“With taxis you have to call the number, and the person you are talking to is never the one who will be driving you,” Callahan said. “You don’t know who the heck is picking you up.”

Next up are Heather Parsons, 30, and Jeremy Andrews, 33, who need a ride from Manitou Springs to a bar near Interstate 25 and West Colorado Avenue. Andrews said he uses Uber every weekend because it’s easier than driving and worrying about his car.

Taylor Wagner, 25, is headed to his home near the Ivywild neighborhood and said it’s easier for him to request an Uber driver than call a cab. Plus, Uber drivers usually come faster, he said.

One of the final groups of the night are two men and two women who cram into Shah’s small back seat. They’ve been drinking and are headed to a bar in the Rockrimmon neighborhood.

Alex Lograsso, who has a woman sitting on his lap, says he’ll always use Uber. He said he likes Uber because he always knows beforehand what the cost will be, he doesn’t have to worry about how he’ll pay and the drivers tend to be nicer.

“I’m never going back to taxis,” he said.

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Contact Maria St. Louis-Sanchez: 636-0238

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