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Comment by vkou | Hacker News Reader

If you're already at the airport... Why wait for a ride-hail, instead of just using the taxi line?

I recently had this exact thought.

Then the taxi driver tried to scam me multiple ways, including demanding cash because they "forgot to start the meter" and attempted to take the long way to my home (I live about 1 mile from the airport).

Won't make that mistake again.

It's both easy to forget why Uber/Lyft was revolutionary and easy to remember why.

If you only live a mile away, why wouldn't you walk?

I'm healthy and enjoy a good walk, but I wouldn't really want to bring luggage a mile from an airport, especially not if the weather isn't nice; it seems rare for foot traffic out of airports to be particularly easy.

I walk nearly a mile (1.2km) just to get to the nearest bus stop (that buses come to often) from my airport. I only travel with a backpack though. You're right in that they don't have sidewalks though out of the airport area.

Because there are no sidewalks out of the airport. This is depressingly common. Airport designers only think about cars and busses. Maybe the train if it is near a city that has it, but even that is far from a guarantee. Usually the only access is a high speed road that connects to an even more pedestrian unfriendly highway.

Exactly, some airports like LGA require you to cross a highway to get to any walkable area

Boston Logan you can definitely hop onto public transit pretty easily. But I'm pretty sure you're not just walking to anywhere in East Boston from there easily.

Indeed. Silver line (to South Station, where you can transfer further) is free to get on at the airport, precisely to encourage riding public transit out of the airport.

I can think of plenty of reasons:

- lots of luggage

- traveling with family/kids

- area was designed for cars and is not pedestrian friendly

- too tired after long travel

- late night arrival makes walking unsafe

Cabbies can be scammy for sure, they try to take advantage of people who don’t assert themselves. An approach I’ve had success with is agree on a flat cash price with the cabbie before the ride starts. If you already are halfway through ordering an Uber/Lyft you have a good idea of what’s a decent price point to offer them. Of course, check what’s in your wallet before you make the deal!

I've been scammed once too often by traditional taxicabs. And even when not, the service has often left a bad taste in my mouth.

As a result now, I'd rather wait 30 minutes for an Uber/Lyft than take the cab sitting right there.

I live in Chicago and find that Ubers/Lyfts are sketchier than taxis. Not to call a taxi luxurious by any means, but just compared to a lot of the sketchy cars i've had for Ubers I find taxis predictable at least.

For that reason, I don't use UberX at all anymore. I always upgrade to UberLux or Uber Comfort or Uber Electric if its available. Even the Uber Comfort's are not that great most of the time. If I have to use UberX, I will just take a taxi. Taxis in my part of Chicago at least are pretty good and predictable (but other cities might not be so lucky).

I think this is market specific. Because when I go back to Oregon to visit family, the UberX there are super nice. I had a brand new Tahoe on my last ride there.

I've started taking taxis from Airports instead of Ubers. There is often a line of idle taxis waiting for rides, and then a bunch of people on their phones in the corner refreshing Uber/Lyft competing over the same handful of drivers.

People have the impression that Taxis are more expensive than Ubers, but that's actually rarely the case. I've found they are pretty close most of the time. I find that Uber/Lyft is cheaper for short trips (< $10) and Taxis are cheaper for longer trips ($10-50).

Also, LPT for everyone. Many/Most airports actually have flat taxi rates between the airport and the city. Be sure to ask about this. A lot of big cities will have a flat price for taxies of like $20 or $30 between the airport and city. I really like this. Also, all taxis nowadays take cards and most take ApplePay too.

Do they really, though? Because even pre-Uber most taxis took cards but their machine was always conveniently broken.

I usually enter the car saying "I don't have any cash, only card. Is that ok?"

And i've been turned down once or twice. I use cabs a lot, so I could call those experiences extreme outliars.

My airport doesn't have a taxi line. Also, traditional airport taxis in my area (which you have to call and wait for a dispatcher to dispatch a taxi anyways) are about 2-3x the cost of an uber/lyft ride.

My last experience with a taxi driver was him swerving 80mph through traffic. Never again.

If you're going more than 30 minutes usually the taxi line has hilarious "out of jurisdiction" charges they tack on

From SFO I once went to South Bay, Uber would've been $50, taxi was $150 because of some esoterically worded rule that tripled the mileage cost outside of SF proper. I wasn't even in SF to start! What a joke

I haven't had occasion to look at the options for years but SFO to San Jose or thereabouts used to be horrible. (Whereas BART to downtown SF is easy/cheap.)

To use SFO as one example: "Destinations either 15 miles beyond the limits of the City and County of San Francisco or 15 miles beyond the boundaries of San Francisco International Airport are charged at 150% of the metered rate."

Also if you need an SUV or larger vehicle for more passengers, it's much easier to just use Uber.

Because you don't want to pay 4 times as much for the ride? My local airport has an exclusive agreement with one taxicab company and to go to my house less than 2 miles away is $20 if I take them. And that's the base price before you add in the gas surcharge, COVID surcharge, luggage surcharge, airport surcharge, depreciation surcharge, and tax. Lyft doesn't hit me with any of that bullshit. Also with Lyft I don't need to make sure I have cash, because of course the cab's card reader is always broken.

Easy:

- I can hail an Uber of my choice before stepping off the plane

- I get free Uber rides via AMEX

- I don't carry cash

- Taxis are hit and miss when it comes to cleanliness

> - Taxis are hit and miss when it comes to cleanliness

So are ubers lol. Especially mid-day when the only ubers that seem to be out are old tiny cars.

Taxis are often far more expensive than Uber/Lyft and such. Going from the local airport to a hotel the first time I came at $location, cost me about 20 euro, going to the airport in the middle of the night from my apartment cost about 5.

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