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Comment by navigatr | Hacker News Reader

These talking points died in 2016. Now that Uber isn't subsidizing rides with investor's money and raised their fares, Uber is actually more expensive than taxis in NJ.

There's no reason ride hailing companies need to violate labor laws to do business.

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Those talking points are 100% true.

Uber started in San Francisco. You could not get a cab on the weekend for any amount of $. You could not get a cab to come to the "tough" neighborhoods. This is 100% fact. I once called 4x and was told one was coming - falsely (I did live in what was then a "bad" neighborhood). My roommate walked across the entire city.

Uber started with licensed transit vehicles - now called uber black. It was only when other folks started doing private party cars that they copied that with UberX (oddly they briefly had some moves towards pushing for enforcement against the unlicensed folks but saw that customers didn't care).

But the underlying issues - incredibly bad service (talking on phone, smoking, credit card machine "broken") and lack of availability - despite the industry being "regulated" were VERY real. That's what got them going.

The other reality - they have FORCED the taxi industry to up their game. You can almost always now pay with credit cards in a taxi, you can call a taxi with an app, you can sometimes even review your taxi driver.

> I once called 4x and was told [a taxi] was coming - falsely

Same deal in Pittsburgh, though I only called 2x on the first instance and 1x on the second. Then I stopped using taxis unless forced.

> credit card machine "broken"

This happened twice last week to me in SoCal and seems to happen about 50% of the time I use taxis.

I called maybe 20x before "getting" it - the taxi is coming was 100% a lie. They were very likely redlining where I lived.

I paid happily for uber black when it came out - whatever people think of uber costs now - original uber was NOT cheaper than a taxi as I remember - BUT you could actually get it. But I might be wrong - for me, I just wanted to be able to get something so I could avoid owning a car (most of the time bus etc works but not always).

I'm more concerned by the divide in status companies like Uber incur among workers than the comfort of the taxi clients, which by the way is a transportation mode only a select few can afford to use frequently.

Source? At EWR a few weeks ago while waiting for luggage, I wandered over to the taxi stand. The quoted fare (there was no line, by the way) was twice that of either Uber or Lyft to the same destination.

I commute in NJ and used ride hailing apps until it was just cheaper to use taxis. I wouldn't use any liaison service at an airport, they're going to charge an arm and a leg for the purported convenience.

Edit: I'm not doxxing myself, sorry. I'm within commuting distance of NYC.

Maybe if you stated what city/region, your anecdote would be more convincing. NJ is a small state but that's still nearly 10,000 square miles.

Were you going to NYC (or anywhere in NY)? NY and NJ do not have a reciprocity agreement, so taxis from NYC are allowed to charge 2x the fare between NYC and EWR and the same for NJ taxis to NYC. Uber/Lyft can pickup / dropoff in either state and don't appear to operate under the same restrictions.

Lyft/Uber drivers from NJ can't pick up from NY. Whereas NY drivers can pick up from both states. NJ drivers have to drive back empty.

I had to cancel a trip from Fort Lee to Stony Brook when I discovered the driver had NJ plates.

They don't know where they're going until they arrive at location.

LAX to downtown: Uber and Lyft are cheaper in the middle of the day between lunch and the evening rush hour, and again after 9 or 10p M-Th.

Early morning through rush hour, and evening rush hour: 2-5x more expensive than a cab, depending on surge pricing.

Holidays: 3-20x more expensive than a cab, depending on surge. I have seen multiple Uber and Lyft fares that would have cost more than the plane ticket did.

At LAX you can walk 10-15 minutes to a hotel and get an Uber for way less than at the terminal.

You can walk out of LAX? Safely? I didn't think the entry road had sidewalks. Or is there some other route?

And, given that those hotels have shuttles, why would you walk? Just take the hotel's bus. (Or are you feeling that that's not cool, because you're going there not to stay there, but just to take an Uber?)

On the lower level, Century Blvd has a sidewalk and crosswalks on the north side of the road. I walked it with my wife just two months ago, although not to catch an Uber, but instead to get our car from long term parking.

Why are you so incredulous that anyone might choose to walk?

Because, in my limited memory, I didn't remember there being a sidewalk from LAX to, say, Century outside the airport. I don't have a problem with walking that far. I have a problem with walking that far, in traffic, when I don't remember there being a sidewalk. I had assumed that there wasn't one.

For example, walking into SLC airport is not trivial to do. It's designed to be driven to, and that only (or, now you can take the train). I mean, you can walk along the bike trail from the southeast corner of the airport, then work your way through the parking lots of the air cargo places, but I don't think there's a sidewalk from the bike trail to the terminal. And that's the best walking option at SLC.

[Edit: A bit of time in Google Maps shows a sidewalk the majority of the way in SLC, but not all of it.]

But the taxi driver will be paid to drive back home, even if he can't pickup a fair.

It's cheaper for the customer, but Uber drivers get screwed in the long term.

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