PESTEL Analysis for Fasten:

Political:
- Local government agencies has regulatory influence over the operations and can
create a significant threat if voters in the city support them. For ex: Uber has to leave
Austin as local bodies voted in favor of stringent background checks for the drivers.
- Claim of Taxi industry over the lack of regulation in the industry resulting to security
issues for the citizens. This can lead to increased regulation which in turn lead to
difficulty in onboarding riders
- Since Fasten is a company founded by Russian founders with most of its technology
imported from Russia, competitors and regulators in US can question its safety.

Economic:
- Since it is a service based industry, its growth depends on consumer disposable
income which in turn is dependent on inflation, tax rates, employment rates etc.
- Most operators are startups in early growth phase and hence depend on investor
capital. Even though Uber and Lyft has successfully raised funding, the failure of
Sidecar to raise funds and its eventual downfall exposes significant threat.
Social:
- Demographic distribution by age and disposable income is an important parameter for
growth.
- Players should consider the social issues that its consumers are most interested in. For
example, increase in gender diversity among its drivers can help the firms to project a
more progressive image at the same time of addressing the security concerns
associated with the firms.
Technology:
- US is the center of some of the major technology hubs and hence the players have to
be always on the lookout of new technology disruptions that can affect their position
in the market.
- Firms must leverage technology for implementing better security features
- Since it is a service industry using technology to decrease the waiting time and
finding better driver-rider match can improve the riding experience.
- Technology can implement to provide a more transparent pricing. For ex: the digital
meters that Fasten implemented provides rider with pricing transparency and
encourages trust.
Environment:
- Although most firms operate only as aggregators they might be liable to the pollution
causes by the cabs that use their services. In order to avoid any future action by
environment activism and also as a part of corporate social responsibility, firm must
make effort to ensure that the cabs operated by them are compliant to the latest
environment norms.
 - Further firms must consider investment in green technologies and providing an option
for electric cars

Legal:
- Fasten must ensure that the markets that they enter provide a significant Information
property protection.
- The firms must ensure that they are in adherence to common law
- Since cab aggregation is a comparatively a new business, firm must ensure that they
are well represented in all the valid forums established to discuss the regulation in the
business.

Conclusion:
1. As Fasten has successfully tested its model in Boston and Austin it should now move
to expand into other cities to quickly fill the void that has been left by SideCar.
Considering its success it has a higher chance of attracting funding from the investor,
which can be used to rapidly expand to newer cities.
2. Currently the strength of Fasten lies with the affordability of its model for both its
riders and drivers, however on an average the waiting time for its cab is significantly
higher than its competitors. Fasten is operating in a service industry and hence it must
invest in technology to better match the drivers and riders, else it would lose market
share
3. Fasten is in an early stage and hence its primary objective must be to gain market
share. Hence it should be invest its fund in expanding its network and build better
brand relationship. With respect to the threat of autonomous vehicle it can fund
university research groups or tie-up with existing automobile players as done by its
competitors. However, the primary focus of the firm must be to expand its network
and improve its service.
4. Impact of Self-Driving vehicles:
- Companies will have to address the regulatory liability issues in case of a crash
- Additional insurance cost will have to be bored by the firms as the firms will be
responsible for the fleet
- Successful implementation will increase the fixed cost but decrease the variable cost
in future. However, opposition from taxi and driver association over the impact on
employment can be faced by firms.
- Customer acceptability of the self-driving cars has to be tested
5. Impact of Ride-sharing vehicles:
- In case the ride sharing vehicles develop a suitable trust network, the industry could
pose a significant threat to the cab aggregators.
- Considering that most customers are more aware of the cab aggregator firms than the
ride-sharing firm, this exposes a significant opportunity for cab aggregator firms by
launching a ride-sharing offering.
6. Factors responsible for growth of ride-sharing industry:
- The industry which started as a premium black cab service has evolved to serve
almost every segment of the market.
- The industry players rapidly expanded their fleet by onboarding non-professional
drivers by providing them an opportunity to flexibly earn additional income (Avg.
income of a driver in US was $19/hour). In addition firms made it easy for drivers to
lease cars (Ex: Uber Xchange Leasing program).
- Since it is a new business there are lesser regulations which allowed the players to
grow in geography and offerings.
- As it is a high growth business it has attracted significant funding from the investors
with Uber raking in a total of $10,207.45 million and Lyft about $2,012.45 million.
7. Who will be the winner?
Depends
- The industry is at an early stage of growth with increasing competition as new players
are emerging with newer business models.
- As the business is a cab aggregator service, the firm which provides significant
benefit to both the riders and drivers will have competitive advantage.
- Technology will also play an important role by allowing the firms to build decrease
their waiting period, have better insurance plans for their riders etc. With significant
interest shown by firms like Google, Tesla and Apple in the ridesharing market the
current incumbents may even completely lose the market if they don’t evolve