Black Cabs in London are wonderful, except:

1. When you need one at about 10pm in the City, and stand on the street corner for ages watching dozens of them go by with their lights off and no passengers.

2. When you are less than 1/2 a mile north of the Thames, and the cabbie refuses the ride because he 'doesn't go south of the river, mate'

3. Same as #2 but 'doesn't go north of the river, mate'

4. Same as #2 and #3 but for inside/outside the north/south circular ringroad.

5. Deliberately ignoring your route request, and then snarles the cab up in non-moving traffic all while the meter is still running (Black Cabs charge by time, not distance).

I think the TfL night bus service is a game changer for a lot of people, you may be waiting for 20 minutes for a connect to what would be zone 5+ but the personal security aspect is pretty good and there are no 'South of the river' games played by bus drivers. I like being under CCTV for my journey when on the night bus.

For me it is not 'let's grab an Uber', it is 'drat, missed the last train, where and when do I get the night bus?'

Because traffic is considerably lighter at night the bus goes at a good speed and during the day the bus has its own lane, one which Uber can't be in.

I appreciate that if you have some very important clients arriving then you want to book them a cab, plus there are plenty of other reasons to get a cab, however, TfL is putting together a transport system for everyone, not just people stuck in their apps.

> (Black Cabs charge by time, not distance).

that's incomplete.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/taxi-fares/tarif...

> The meter automatically adds a charge based on time for any part of a taxi journey when the speed drops below 10.4mph.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/taxi-fares

In nearly 20 years of relying extensively on black cabs as I don't have a drivers license, I've never experienced a single one of the above.

Sounds like you're exceptionally unlucky.

Let me guess: you're white, male, in your 30s+, and usually in a suit when calling a cab?

Rarely in a suit. The rest, yes, but the same also applies to my black ex, who incidentally also uses taxis far more than me. No doubt there's plenty of racism in the UK, but of all the places she's complained about racist behavior, black cabs has never been of them. Maybe we've just been lucky. Or maybe you've been extremely unlucky.

Pretty much this, and I have only crossed the channel a handful times to visit friends. Same experience in France when trying out legacy taxis, they are supposed to take cards, they display it on their car, yet, some will refuse it and cause trouble if you try using it.

Basically, it comes down to lack of serious customer support and accountability system. Setting new rules from top to bottom in a legacy industry that has decades of industry malpractice under its belt cannot be effective if you aren't able to enforce those rules.

> I've had black cab drivers insist that I can't use my card, and that I must get out. > I've had cab drivers refuse to drive me to certain parts of London because it's inconvenient for them.

Report them, by taxi license number (displayed on a plate in the passenger area). Both those things are rare and taken seriously, but the authorities can't do anything if they aren't told.

Defiantly not rare. And I don't want to spend my evening complaining to tfl.

Then just accept the fact you’re part of the problem. If everyone was like you and only in it for themselves, quality service would be rare, if not ever.

I'm PAYING money in order to get a service to reduce the stress in my life.

I'm not paying money to increase it.

I improve services by voting with my wallet, which black cabs are trying to take away from the consumer.

While the cabbies do hate Uber, I'm not sure you can blame the current moves entirely on them, there's quite a lot more to it than that.

Everybody knows the blackcabs have been lobbying tfl and major for a long time.

Sure, but I don't think you can really blame the black cabs for the ban, there's a lot of substance to the complaints.

No. Switching to a different provider is an excellent response to poor service. And one that definitely incentivizes improvement.

LOL! How about instead of doing that, everyone just uses a service that doesn't suck?

A customer should not HAVE to report people for this shit. It should just work. And if it doesn't, then I am using a different service.

I've had the second (refused to be driven) from Uber drivers in London before, except couched in silly excuses like "there are roadworks, it's not possible", and to add insult to injury, marking the ride as complete so I get charged anyway. TBF Uber were extremely prompt about refunding it.

The last point I won't disagree with; Uber is definitely cheaper, qualitatively so, such that you'd consider it for trips that you'd never take a black cab for.