If the drivers do that, report them through the app. They’ll stop doing it pretty quickly—if it’s done often enough, they’re “fired”

I tried to go from SFO to South Bay a while back around midnight and eventually took a cab after being cancelled by multiple Uber drivers. Some even called me, asked where I was going, then angrily said they don't go to South Bay and cancelled.

Heh, I've always had the opposite experience. They either want to go to the city or somewhere far South. Something close like Millbrae, South City or Burlingame? They cancel the ride.

I believe all of these stories; I just don't understand why people expect or believe taxi drivers and Uber drivers are fundamentally different people with different incentives.

Uber drivers get kicked off Uber if they do it too often. They might have the same incentives but the platform at least helps prevent it.

The frustrating part about Uber is that I have to wait 10 minutes for each one before they refuse to take me somewhere. With a taxi I can just walk down the row of taxis at the airport. On the other hand, the only reason taxis can get that benefit is because they lobby so hard to kick the Ubers out to a parking lot 10 minutes away.

"I've had ride shares cancel on me once the driver's gotten close enough to see that the destination is an airport."

I'm not understanding this. If you're using the app correctly then the driver knows the destination before they even accept the ride. If you're setting an address near an airport in an attempt to be duplicitous I would be equally discouraged as a driver.

Happens all. the. time.

I'm in NYC, and I use taxis 99% of the time because of this phenomenon: Uber/Lyft drivers rapidly accept your ride, then cancel (or slow-play the pickup, so that you cancel, to protect their driver rating) as soon as they see it's a place they don't want to go.

It's so bad here that I just won't deal with Lyft and Uber unless they're throwing serious discounts my way, and I have time to burn.

The worst part is how much of your time it wastes. With a cab, whatever, another one is coming soon. But with rideshares, you could be waiting awhile on someone who'll cancel on you, thus wasting a lot more time. Even if twice as many taxis refuse to go there as rideshares, I'm still wasting more time on the rideshares, so it's worse.

> With a cab, whatever, another one is coming soon.

That really depends on your neighborhood. In the outer burroughs, you can walk some ways before you reach a busy enough street to find cabs.

If you have bags, small children, or are disabled, that walk is basically a non-starter.

Fair enough. I've been taking Ubers to JFK for years and have never had this happen - but I guess everyone has their own experiences.

Airport trips are relatively easy, as long as you're in normal operating hours. Drivers don't want to go places where it's hard to get a return trip. JFK has plenty of passengers both ways.

This does not seem to jive with the parent comment to whom I was originally replying though:

"Ubers don't want to go to the airport for the same reason that cabs don't."

Seems consistent to me: Ubers don't want to places where they can't easily pick up a return trip; same as cabs. That's always been my assumption, anyway.

This is a result of poor logistics on the part of Uber and Lyft. There are a large number of Ubers and lyfts that will drop off and have to leave the airport without a passenger, meanwhile, you can call you car and be told it's a 10min wait as someone who isn't even on premises accepts the fare.

Are they actually allowed to do that, or is there a regulation preventing it?

Sorry, I'm confused now. You stated above that JFK has passengers going both ways - so isn't this exactly the kind of fare an Uber would want to take on?

Where are you taking them from?

Midtown, the village, Brooklyn, Queens... Where are you taking them from?

I've been taking Ubers from and to JFK, EWR, and LGA from Williamsburg and Chinatown for years never had a cancel on any of them.

I thought the driver couldn't see the destination until they started the ride after you get in. Although I've encountered drivers starting a ride as soon as they see me on the street (which I contested and got money back for).

Seeing your luggage etc means they can make a pretty good guess about whether you're going to the airport.

>or slow-play the pickup, so that you cancel, to protect their driver rating

Yep, or they even just call you and ask you to cancel.

My understanding is that with Lyft, the driver does not see the destination until they've reached (or come close to) your location.

And yes, I'm using the app correctly -- not sure why you're jumping to some conclusion that I must be being duplicitous. There's no convenient "nearby" drop-off points near airports here anyway.

I've never used Lyft so couldn't comment there. And you're jumping to a conclusion assuming I was jumping to a conclusion. I was just trying to make sense of how that could happen as you described.

As a social tip: If you accuse someone of potentially being duplicitous, you shouldn't be surprised when they don't react positively to it. And if you don't know a lot about something, your first guess shouldn't be that the person you're talking to must be lying about something.

You seem very sensitive about this, so once again I'll just mea culpa and say I never stood up and yelled j'accuse - your description of the problem just made little sense to me and I was trying to discuss how it might be possible.