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Comment by seanmcdirmid | Hacker News Reader

Non-austenite here. If I arrive in Austin by plane and Uber or Lyft isn't working, knowing nothing about the local alternatives, I guess I have to take a cab.

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You could just spend a few minutes researching that before you arrive or something… it's hardly the biggest imposition.

Or even just... take a cab? Other than the lack of VC subsidies, even in cities that don't have great taxi services generally, taxis usually work reasonably well getting to and from the airport.

Hell, a lot of hotels have shuttles to/from the airport.

while ripping you off ($)

Where do you think the money that you pay for a taxi fare goes? Who exactly do you think is getting rich off this rip-off?

Have you considered that perhaps, the cost of a taxi fare is close to the cost of operating a car + having a 60 hour-week driver make a living wage (Without VC subsidies)?

lol

I think possibly there will be no dominate player but rather a region by region balkanization.

I imagine the problem problem you describe will be solved by an aggregator service. You will just open the app and select from amongst the local players.

Do such apps exist already?

Honestly I don't know. I would be surprised if someone wasn't working on it if not. But I'm not sure if there is yet a critical mass of regional players yet to warrant it. But maybe that's a catch 22?

If you arrive anywhere and assume the corporate alternatives you are used to aren't available, you will choose to use the local available services? How is this unreasonable?

What you need is literally a single Google search away.

https://www.google.com/search?q=austin+ride+sharing&oq=austi...

But hey, cabs are fine too. It's your call.

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