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Comment by kornhole | Hacker News Reader

If I can't bike or bus it, taxis paid with cash is still my first preference.

Can you get a taxi to show up? The last two times I tried to rebel against the rideshare duopoly was the morning before international flights. Trips to the airport are the only use case I have for rideshare. Both times I scheduled the pick up by calling the phone number the day before, both times the driver just… didn’t show up. I panicked and downloaded Lyft.

I know some taxi companies have apps now, but if I’m going that route, I don’t see the point of not using Lyft.

Yeah taxi dispatch is hit and miss. They might be in NYC somewhere where it's possible to flag down a cab.

> might be in NYC somewhere where it's possible to flag down a cab

Unless it’s shift change or you’re in the wrong neighbourhood or have the wrong skin colour.

Same. Every time we tried to call taxis pre-rideshare apps, we always got a "between 30 minutes and 2 hours" estimate if they ever showed up at all. Their CC machine was always conveniently broken unless you didn't have cash and the ATM was real far away. Good riddance.

The “sorry the credit card machine is broken” scam is about as ludicrous as the homeless people asking me for $1. Buddy, I haven’t carried cash since the Obama administration. Half the time I don’t even carry a credit card.

Sadly they have been squeezed out of many locations, and I can not always find one. I know where I can usually get them and try it as my first option. It depends on where you are.

I’m glad that works for you. But I’ve learned over years of discussing this stuff that there are so many different transportation situations experienced by different people that any universal rule is destined to become wrong.

Thanks for letting us all know.

This doesn't work in my city, taxis will literally just not show up. I know that sounds weird but you'll call, request a time and place and then be at the time and place and... nothing

To be fair my only experience of Uber was a friend calls an Uber for us, the Uber eventually cancels, she requested another one, they cancelled too, and then magically there are no Uber drivers in my city.

Conventional "radio controlled" taxi was the eventual solution I used to get us out of there.

I switched to Uber because I got stuck at the Palo Alto Ikea for hours once because every taxi decided to go to a Stanford football game instead.

Do you prefer cash because they always have broken credit card readers?

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