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Comment by askafriend | Hacker News Reader

Cabs are:

* Much lower quality cars (torn seats, smelly, old, safety issues...no one looks good showing up to a date in a Cab).

* Much lower quality drivers (some smoke openly, talk on the phone loudly, don't listen to you, take longer routes than necessary, etc)

* No accountability for service

* No trip data for safety reasons

* No handy log of all your recent trips

* More expensive + tip required

* Sometimes will pester you to be cash-only (even though the credit card machine works, they'll just lie to you)

* Ignore the law and will refuse to give you a ride if you're going to some specific destinations where they don't want to go.

I can go on and on. This is in most American cities. I will not take cabs even if they are cheaper.

Cabs deserve to be eliminated as a transportation option.

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Thanks for the ancedata, my personal ancedata for many years of living in NYC is:

Cabs:

* Cars regulated by state.

* Usually cheaper than Uber rides (in my experience always).

* Know the city like the back of their hand.

* Can file a complaint directly with the state or cab company.

* Accountable through a taxi license.

* Won't defraud you with bogus cleaning fees.

Uber:

* Been in two minor car accidents due to driver switching between Waze and GMaps to find the route or just constantly fiddling with their phone.

* Had an Uber driver show up in a car that looked nearly totaled. Passenger side door was nonfunctional due to damage.

* Poorly maintained cars operated around the clock by operators than get virtually no sleep due to an unlivable wage.

* Had a driver travel at high speeds in poor conditions while talking about how they only get a couple of hours a sleep a night and manipulating their phone.

* Many drivers clearly living in their car, undergarments and clothes on front passenger seat.

* Uncomfortably hit on my girlfriend 100% of the time if she is alone.

* Driver complaints often ignored / go into the corporate void.

This is why we don't trust ancedata.

Here's the difference.

For all the issues you had with Uber or Lyft. You can contact them and they'll refund you your ride. They've refunded my ride every time something bad has happened.

Cab driver hits on your girlfriend? Good luck doing anything about it.

Same situation happens in a Lyft or Uber? You get your money back and the driver's rating gets lowered or they get kicked off the platform and you get unmatched permanently from that driver in the marketplace.

Cab driver takes a selfish route? Good luck proving it.

Uber driver takes a bad route? It's logged, and easily reportable. You'll get your money back.

Uber/Lyft drivers also commonly have chargers, water bottles, and other amenities and are generally accommodating because they know their rating matters. Cab drivers don't care at all.

I've even had cab dispatchers promise a cab will be at my house at X time, and I've had several drivers just not show up with no notice, no warning, nothing. Uber driver cancels? I know immediately.

As a customer, it's a far superior experience in nearly every way - even in cases when things go wrong. I'll pay more every time to take Uber/Lyft over a Cab, and so will my 20s/30s friend group - we'll do it happily because the world is changing and Uber/Lyft are more in line with what we expect from a car service in 2018.

Not only that - it's a similar experience I can get in LA as in NYC as in SF as in my small hometown. They all have Uber/Lyft and I can call the services from any curb at any time right through my smartphone and it works reliably with similar systems of accountability and trip reporting. It makes business travel and expensing dead easy.

Funny, I live in Chicago, so maybe things are different here, but I view cabs as nearly a luxury now. The rates are similar to uber/lyft, still slightly higher, but not much.

The service is very different though:

1. The driver often knows the best way to get to my place and all I have to do is give my address.

2. The driver knows how to drive in the city.

3. I'm rarely if ever forced into a conversation I don't want to have.

I find the whole thing so much more pleasant.

> tip required

Really? I've never tipped a cab, though I rarely use them. What happens when you don't tip?

The one time I remember that I didn't tip a cab, he swore at me, wadded up the receipt and threw it at me. This made my expense report somewhat more difficult.

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