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Comment by dx034 | Hacker News Reader

Addison Lee is a good alternative. Drivers tend to be a bit more professional, prices are not that much higher and cars are generally nice.

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Their previously voiced views on cyclists should be taken into account though.

http://road.cc/content/news/56999-addison-lee-chairman-airs-...

The Keen Group have always been reliable for us (but could hold similar views for all I know)

You can downvote, but I hate cyclists in cities, because many of them break road rules. They think of themselves as neither pedestrians, nor vehicles. When they drive on pavements, they presume being pedestrian and expect to be treated equally (even though they operate a large mass of steel, often with high speeds, enough to cause serious injuries). When they are on the road, they like to be pedestrians and cross traffic lights, when cars have stopped. Don't know why cyclists constantly show such a selfish attitude. I am not singling out London, as I witnesses similar behavior in many European countries.

So, the cyclists behave just like car drivers then ... /sorta-joking

(FWIW I'm both and sometimes ride a motorbike or drive a van.)

What is the problem with cyclists cross the road on a pedestrian crosswalk (with a reasonable speed of course)? In some European countries cyclists are actually forbidden to take direct left turn on the road and have to use pedestrian crosswalk for that.

This is why cycle infrastructure, like one finds in Perth, WA is so good. In some places there is a separate cycle-road distinct from both pavement and road, in others there are cycle tracks running alongside train tracks, away from cars and pedestrians. It works really well, because someone bothered to plan.

I've seen many cyclists go through red lights in cases where doing so is obviously safe. But for comparison I don't think I've met a single car driver who obeyed speed limits, indeed they seem affronted when I raise that question.

I have never seen in London a car driver run a red light but I regularly see cyclists blast through a red light at > 20mph and it is always the ones on fixies or racing bikes not actual bikes built for commuting.

I have also seen bikes blast through pedestrian refuges during the rush hour

Black cabs do it regularly on Oxford Street.

Then let's ban cars in cities, considering the harm car traffic has caused to inner cities andvtgeir inhabitants.

Oh, and don't complain that infrastructure built for cars sucks when used by bikes.

Better to have the selfish people on bikes than in cars.

I'd not sure I'd call the AL drivers professional. A number of them are complete psychopaths around the Heathrow area.

More so than cabbies or Uber drivers?

Considerably worse. Some people use them as a cab service for the local school and it's like a pinball machine.

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