If you want a larger car, you can get it. You'll just pay a bit more.
> Aren't the levels of Uber that allow a Prius to be used much, much cheaper than a black cab? If you want a larger car, you can get it. You'll just pay a bit more.
> On paper, sure. In practice, I find that Uber is nearly constantly in surge pricing in London. I've had it several times now where I Was riding in a group, same start point same destination - some people in ubers, some in black cabs. Again, with normal pricing Uber should be cheaper, but since it's very often at 1.5x-2x multiplier, it works out the same or actually more expensive than a black cab. And sure, there is the higher tier of ubers too, but it's usually showing me 20-30 minute wait for a cab for a nicer car.
Seems like the fact that there is constantly surge pricing and long waiting time means that there are too few Uber drivers, even in "low quality" cars, to meet demand. Your complaints sound like the old joke about prison food: it tastes terrible and the portions are too small.
What an odd thought leap! It seems like your comparison to the prisoner would apply to anyone who thought the price of something was too high for what you were getting, so doesn't actually seem like a compelling point.
Everyone wins. Even if you prefer black cabs in all circumstances, as there’s now less competition in flagging one ;-)
The barrier to entry for becoming a black cab driver far exceeds that required to be an Uber driver.
Drive for Uber: get a PCO license (about £400-600); own an appropriate car; have appropriate insurance.
Drive a black cab: do the knowledge (2-4 years); get a black cab license (in excess of £1k); get a black cab (likely at least twice the price of a Prius); have appropriate insurance.
Pretty sure the number of Uber drivers who might have been black cab drivers is very, very small.
In my experience this is only true since the rise of Uber. Prior to that it was rare to find a cab which took card in London and even if you were in one, often the card machine was conveniently out of order
Comparing a Prius to one of those black cabs ("Hackney carriages" as they're called) is like comparing a car to a cattle truck. The former at least attempts to be comfortable, the latter is just designed to move cattle as efficiently as possible (for the operator) without any concerns for the cattle itself.