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Comment by bitdivision | Hacker News Reader

I agree uber drivers =/= black cab drivers, but I'd also argue that most people don't want or need a black cab driver today.

What extra services does a black cab driver provide over an Uber driver in London?

  - Better knowledge of traffic patterns?
  - Ability to recommend places, give you local knowledge

That's all I can really think of. I agree that local knowledge is sometimes useful, but the vast majority of the time I know exactly where I want to go, and if I'm looking for recommendations I'm likely to trust the internet more than a taxi driver.

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It's all about the subtle nuance of the service provided. A skilled driver will know which route to take if the passenger wants the absolute quickest route, or if the passenger wants a scenic route, or which cobble-stone roads to avoid if the passenger says they're feeling a bit ill, or hundreds of other such intricacies and peculiarities which come with offering expert service which someone who just has a GPS app on their phone and some free time can't begin to offer.

That's nice. They should continue to offer this premium service at premium prices, then, for the few people who are willing to pay the premium.

My point up-thread was that this tier of service used to be more or less the de facto standard of service that you would get for a standard, not a premium, fee. Over time, it has deteriorated and is now the domain of specialty car hire services. I'm not sure that that's a good thing.

My point is that the "standard" fee is premium when compared to Uber which tends to cost half as much in the countries where I tried it.

Aside from solving the trust/scam problem, that's one of the reason why people like Uber - it made 'car as a service' affordable. Without Uber, I might have bought a car, because a factor of 2 completely changes the picture.

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