Hello from up here in Edgewater.
I realize there are huge problems with the finances and liabilities of Uber…but taxis before ride shares were a pure nightmare, from a UX perspective.
Uber brought us…
* Deterministic pricing (for the most part)
* Flawless ubiquitous credit card transactions
* The ability to point to a random location on a map and just magically have a car take you there
I know Uber’s finances are shit…but you know what? I would gladly pay more, because you get a car right to your door that delivers you to an arbitrary location with nobody extorting you for extra physical cash.
But while rideshares can be better for me than listening to some taxi driver go off on some misogynist rant, that doesn't mean that they're better once you start taking into account wage problems, increase in CO2 production, etc.
But seriously, taxis in Chicago can get fucked. They were so terrible.
I buy the CO2 aspect. Many cases where Uber is now more convenient than public transport vs. El is better than a taxi
I cant help but feel as though a lot of the people defending these 'rideshare' companies on HN are living in coastal city bubbles. It's simply not an option in many places, and the apps will outright lie to you that they're able to get you a ride.
I only ever had one no show and that was because a lot of us ordered taxis from the same place around the same time so dispatch though it was some sort of prank.
Getting a taxi from LAX was as easy as grabbing my stuff from baggage claim and strolling out the door directly into the first taxi waiting at the curb. Usually there was a person there on the sidewalk directing the taxis too.
When I was new at this, I just gave the driver the address I wanted. One of the first taxi rides I took, the driver handed me a book of paper maps and asked me to find the place for him, lol. After that I learned to say "take me to (address), it's by (street) and (cross street). It's not far from (big street) and (other big street)" Worked 100% of the time.
On arrival I'd pay in my preferred method (cash) and tip the driver knowing he would get the entire tip.
Nowadays, I've had at least 5 lyf/ber cancel on me. Getting one out of SFO involves dragging my bags all the way out to the top floor of the parking structure where I get to wait around for 45 minutes in the rain while other people's rides arrive in random order. The rating system is useless because if I rate anything other than 5 stars it's the same as asking for the driver to be fired. Any tip I leave in the app is getting a sizable chunk shaved off the top by the company. At least my destination is automatically in the driver's GPS. Unless I'm going to Stanford which is notoriously hostile to cars and GPS often directs the driver to the wrong place...
I’ve also lived in areas where taxi service was essentially nonexistent. I wonder how many DUIs and related accidents have been prevented by ride share apps.
Traveling abroad in Europe the apps work simply regardless of my command of the local language to explain my destination and keeps the drivers honest so they aren’t taking “the long way”.
How is anyone supporting taxis as superior to this? There was absolutely no accountability.
From an business model perspective, I would wager that eventually you could get this to a point of sustainability that doesn’t require armies of engineers and various support staff, a la Twitter.
Just don’t try to say taxis were better.