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Comment by karmacondon | Hacker News Reader

I've never had any of these experiences when riding in cabs. The cars were always ok, the drivers were polite and well spoken, they took direct routes and never demanded cash.

I use Uber for one simple reason: It's 30% cheaper than a cab. It isn't the quality of the cars, the personality of the drivers or the nature of the service. All of those things vary from case to case for every transportation service. Uber's only compelling feature is their lower price.

From what I understand, the average Uber driver makes very little money, < $9/hr after Uber's fees and vehicle maintenance costs. And the low customer prices are effectively being subsidized by venture capital money. How long can this last? Could this be another Groupon situation, where the Ponzi scheme doesn't fall apart until after Uber's IPO?

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Uber is sometimes more convenient and sometimes not. Downtown Chicago, NYC, or DC, it's more convenient hail the cab already driving by you. In the burbs Uber is more convenient.

From Union Station in DC I take Uber, even though the cab line is way more convenient. It's about 40% cheaper accounting for no tip. Silicom Valley subsidizes my morning commute!

Disagree about that in Chicago. Can companies often claim their meters are down or go the "long way" to jack up the fare. Uber and Lyft have justly eaten up the market here.

How do you "go the long way" in a city with a strict street grid?

Blatantly, hoping that the riders aren't paying attention. I took an Uber in NYC that tried this: while driving toward my location that was only 5 more blocks away on the same street, he turned right, then left, then left, then right (back onto the original street). He only did the first left turn after going off-course because I demanded it--I'm sure he would've taken his sweet time if I hadn't.

To balance the anecdotes: I once took a yellow cab to an NYC airport, and in the middle of the highway (didn't even pull off to a shoulder) the cab driver stopped his car because his English wasn't good enough to read the signs. He just kept asking me "left? right?" as cars blew past him at 45+ mph, honking their horns.

I wish yellow cabs had a rating system so I could've given that driver 1-star like I did the Uber driver.

I've never had a cab go the long way. Maybe I have a Chicago accent.

I do regularly get cabs who say their card reader is down, at which point I just say "you are required to accept credit cards", and they always back down. I agree though that this is a reason to use Uber.

Never, not once in 15 years, have I had a cab claim their meters are down. I've suspected a padded fare a couple of times but the difference was so small, that as a native I didn't notice. Credit card readers being down used to be a common refrain, but seems to have gone away in the face of Square.

What I have had, not commonly but often enough that it no longer surprises me, is extremely racists statements about where I live (I'm a white south sider which seems to attract crazy talk). This has occurred in taxis, Uber & Lyft. I've even had Uber and taxi drivers (Lyft isn't immune, just small sample size) try to refuse to drive me home after picking me up. I've reported these incidents to either 311 or the respective apps. With the apps I have no idea of the effectiveness. With 311 I had a case number assigned and received an update months later when a driver lost their license over a racist incident.

If I really had any complaint about Uber & Lyft is that it seems to have driven the profit out of livery cars and really created a race to the bottom in that market. I used to much prefer private cars for most things, but now the difference isn't worth paying for except for prescheduled events.

All that said, I use taxis, Uber, Lyft & livery cars with some regularity, and my usage of them largely is based on convenience not quality of service. Taxis when I'm in the loop or some other busy spot, Uber/Lyft when I need an adhoc ride elsewhere, and private cars for scheduled rides.

With Uber and Lyft, you can put your destination address into the app well before the driver arrives, so he can see exactly where you're going.

But when I do that suddenly I don't get rides....

Agree. In Chicago, cab drivers tend to know the city better simply because uber drivers tend to be part time. But I take uber to and from the suburbs a lot and that just wasn't an option before uber

Sorry, how many times have you ridden in a cab? And in which city/cities?

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