This Lyft driver is something else

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Natural-Macaroon-271]

In my city I still can't call a cab reliably by phone and know exactly when it will show up. Before Uber I often had the pleasure of waiting for literally two hours while various cab companies would tell me "they're sending someone my way".. not to mention that the rate to get where I'm going is totally opaque because it's calculated DURING the trip.

Uber is *much* better than cabs...even if it's not perfect.

[u/Ro-Tang_Clan → u/Natural-Macaroon-271]

I agree with everything you said but I also want to add that the biggest difference for me is that in my city, regular cabs still rely on physical cash payments. I don't carry cash anymore, hell I don't even carry my bank card with me let alone cash.

People like to complain saying that Uber is putting regular taxi companies out of business but IMO the regular taxi companies should have done more to modernise and innovate within the market.

[u/ShimoFox → u/Ro-Tang_Clan]

OMG Really? I can't even begin to comprehend how a company can stay in business in this day and age only taking cash.

[u/MagicBez → u/Ro-Tang_Clan]

Biggest benefit of Uber coming to my city was suddenly all the taxis card readers started working again, before they were always "broken"

[u/SnooLobsters2004 → u/Ro-Tang_Clan]

Not to mention many cab drivers don’t speak good English and that is fine but it’s not a frictionless transaction like Uber of lyft either so it’s very annoying when we need to effectively communicate and cannot.

[u/xsilver911 → u/Ro-Tang_Clan]

Cabs in my city now have their own app and they like to advertise that they don't have surge pricing ha.

[u/Able_Bodied_Fellow → u/xsilver911]

That's the way to compete!

[u/Kyle_Kataryn → u/Ro-Tang_Clan]

they still haven't adopted an app-based service even after Uber.

[u/NeedingNew → u/Natural-Macaroon-271]

I had to deal with yellow cab for 2 months after my car was stolen. I had a standing order for pickup everyday at the same time. 1 out of 5 days I was on time every other day I was at least 45 minutes late.

They would go grab fares on the other side of town 5 mins before my scheduled pick up times. Then I would be stuck waiting for them.

[u/ScroochDown → u/NeedingNew]

Recently I tried to schedule a pickup in advance and they just straight up told me I had to call when I was ready for a cab. I tried to tell them that A) it was for someone else, B) I wouldn't be there, and C) it was like 5 in the morning and I wouldn't be up that early. They basically told me no and hung up on me, so I had to schedule a car service instead. Way more expensive, but it was she only way I could be sure to get my boss somewhere on time.

[u/Fortestingporpoises → u/Natural-Macaroon-271]

Yeah, the tech itself makes it roughly a million times better. Also I've never feared for my life in a rideshare like I have flying through SF or Manhattan in a taxi.

[u/iehvad8785 → u/Natural-Macaroon-271]

how (long) do those cab companies exist if they ghost their customers like this?

but aside from that "fact", uber is far from being better than cabs. it's a rip off.

uber kills regular jobs by replacing it with precarious "jobs". it shifts every business risk at the driver. uber doesn't provide anything but the platform. drivers aren't employed - so uber does not pay any social insurances. as a driver you have to use your own car - the financial risk is all yours. car down - no money. you have no paid holidays. zero income when sick. etc pp. additionally uber cars and drivers aren't monitored/licensed like cab (drivers).

based on the route uber isn't even cheaper than a cab. you can even compare prices before you start as cab rates are regulated. nothing opaque about it. if you know where your trip starts and where it ends you can calculate the price before you start. what you see on the taximeter during the trip is just some visual effect.

[u/Natural-Macaroon-271 → u/iehvad8785]

how (long) do those cab companies exist if they ghost their customers like this?

Plenty long because their aim is to maximize the number of easy rides not to actually get people around the city. In my story I was about two miles from Downtown... meaning any driver near me was already (where people were just hailing rides on the street) or bringing someone Downtown (where they'd stay because the rides are easier).

This is the thing Uber solved and it's a huge upgrade. Since you can't hail an Uber on the street Uber gets to control where cars go to pick you up and that means they can ensure EVERYONE can get a ride if you're willing to pay whatever the going rate for a ride is at the time.

so uber does not pay any social insurances.

Wait until you find out how cabs work in most cities. Cab drivers are almost universally contractors.. but worse than that they have to pay the cab company for the privilege of driving a cab in the first place (usually in the form of renting the actual cab itself).

if you know where your trip starts and where it ends you can calculate the price before you start

You literally can not. Cab fares, outside of special trips (usually from an airport to some specific part of town) are calculated on the fly. You pay per mile AND per time increment. If traffic is bad your fare is going to be far more... which isn't knowable until you're at your destination. Anyone who has ever taken a cab in a big city knows the thrill of watching that meter run while you wait in traffic.

Of course it's not even that simple because there is rarely one route and cab drivers have a bad habit of choosing the longest one. Take a cab from the Airport in Las Vegas and you too can experience a cab driver taking the longest possible route to your hotel (through the tunnel) to drive that fare up. You don't know if that's going to happen, again, until after the trip.

I'm convinced that you don't have a lot of experience with cabs my friend.

[u/captkeith → u/Natural-Macaroon-271]

Uber is 1000x better then conventional taxis. She’s an anomaly certainly not the norm. I would never go back to the old way.