Not trying to be a stick in the mud but these are the reasons the taxi industry is regulated in the first place. But it is a free country and capitalism rules. If you want libertarian unregulated utilities then you got them. If it’s not then vote with your wallet.
I’m opining because my neighbor’s experience directly affected me. It was sheer luck that I just happened to be home and so I offered her a ride because she couldn’t drive home after having laser surgery on her eye, thus needing a ride before and after appt. Thirty+ minutes round trip for me because the Uber app erroneously stated that a driver would be arriving in five minutes when no driver had picked up her request.
That’s the issue I have with the app. My neighbor was able to use Uber returning home–sparing me another 30-40 minutes–and she is still content with the service, which says something positive about the service.
As I mentioned before, I’m not arguing that Uber is better or worse than traditional cabs/taxis. As a matter of fact, if you read my post you would have seen that I have vivid recollections of a horrible cab ride and trouble trying to secure a cab in a moderate snow storm. I also applauded the use of sending driver info and photo to customers. I was simply pointing out to another poster that my only peripheral experience (and yes, it’s still an experience) with Uber was similar to his experience with hailing cabs.
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Lyft isn’t an option in Edmonton.
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Uber and Lyft are out of contro from MTA.
“So whatever they want they can do”.
Also they refuse Transportation rule and regulate.
This is bad think for Passangers. We should complain for they are under Transportation rule and regulate,so no surge rate.
Who is ‘we’ exactly? Because you haven’t established any such ‘fact’.
How is offering a price and letting people decide whether or not they want to pay it ‘acting like an asshole’? Don’t like the price? Catch a taxi, the bus, the subway, a train, ride a bike, walk, rideshare, go sit in a park somewhere and wait for the price to come down.
If I’d ever had a positive taxi experience, I might buy your argument more.
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Yeah, we know… cabs in San Francisco are awful. My experience in the East Bay is totally opposite.
Dueling anecdotes!
I think all we can conclude is that the “worst” company/experience is different in each market.
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Well, except I’m not a San Franciscan and I’m 44 but have only lived in the Bay Area for 9 years.
So, my anecdotes cover more ground than SF.
Cabs are a shitty monopoly in most places that doesn’t do anything of value for consumers that I can see. It does wonders for certain cab companies though.
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Really? You’ve never EVER had a positive experience in a taxi? Wow.
I think you missed the point though. Taxi fares are set by the municipality they operate in. The fare is always the same regardless of holidays, inclement weather, etc… because of regulations.
What do you suppose will happen when Uber has the monopoly on ground transportation? Do you really think the drivers will behave any different?
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Then, there’s the publicity. Too many horseless carriages is OBVIOUSLY a bad business model. Every year, there are stories about horses getting spooked by more than one horseless carriage on a lane at a time across the world. It’s bad for business and at some point, I am sure someone is going to question whether a person can really do the maths to ensure they are getting a fair deal.
Full disclosure: I own a buggy-whip factory and think horseless carriages are the work of the devil.
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Why elese would it be invisible?
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So they must have taken like 500 bucks out of the pocket of that driver, because you can only roll that sort of thing back (or deny the driver his personally earned fare in the first place) if the drivers are employees. Right?
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I thought uber was great and every loved uber and it was the wave of the future?
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I bet the cardsharks would like to hear of this breaking sociological news.
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and also:
There would have to be a whole new bureacracy and laws to do something like thaaAAAat.
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Ok who is that winker?
If I were to trust the caption, that is Alexa from MTV
That’s Frank Lundergaard. He runs the “Beer 'N Stuff” mini-mart at the corner of North Central and East Biddle. He may have had some work done.
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Speaking of “basic math”, I’m grateful for this article and the comments, because when I heard about it on a local radio station they kept saying surge pricing was 8.9 PER CENT, and I was having a hard time figuring out how the hell that worked.
8.9 times regular price makes much more sense.
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