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Comment by swimminglala88 | Hacker News Reader

why they do that

In developing countries, the taxi market is largely unregulated and Uber faces actual competition. Uber cannot compete on price in these regions.

their only leg up in 1st world countries was largely going around any laws governing taxis

I disagree, that was only true 15 years ago. In developed countries, ride hailing is highly regulated. Uber is one of the few companies willing to implement all the required rules and procedures.

Counterpoint : in Portugal they are regulated under TVDE, and Uber is competitive with Bolt

That's not a counterpoint.

You’re right, maybe they don’t make good profits in Portugal

Even in countries where taxis are regulated, sometimes Uber is more expensive but safer. Like in Romania. When I used to go there a lot the official taxis were mandated to offer such low standardized rates that there was a lot of scamming going on. One of my colleagues was basically abducted by a taxi driver (taken to a dangerous gypsy area and told they would kick him out of the car unless he paid them hundreds of euro). Uber was a lot safer because you have tracability on the driver, but more expensive too. And there weren't a lot of them.

There were ways to get safe drivers in some cases by booking them through the yellow machines. But in the end the company hired private drivers for us. Though personally I would just use the metro and tram a lot too :P If you know where you're going it's not a dangerous place.

Not sure if the taxi situation is still as bad there by the way. I would hope not.

Does no one have any memory of what taxis were like and how much they cost? The taxis are gone because they weren't competitive.

taxis “weren’t competitive” when Uber rides were heavily subsidized and Uber was burning billions. I ride taxi now exclusively because it is almost always cheaper than Uber

A taxi to the airport in Melbourne was >AUD100 from where I am more than 10 years ago. An Uber is ~AUD70 still, past all the subsidies.

Yes but what’s a taxi to the airport cost now? Otherwise the comparison doesn’t mean much.

exactly! it was more expensive, now taxi is often 20-30% cheaper and almost never more expensive

Nope, see above - 144 vs 80-90 right this moment, taxi is way more expensive.

in might be in Australia but certainly not in the US of A

Great if true! Uber helped drive down costs for you.

13cabs, a licensed cab operator, just gave me an estimate of AUD144, UberX 79, Uber Comfort 90.

We have an issue where Uber Drivers dont know the local laws about child restraints. They dont need them. Taxis, Busses, Trains and Ride Shares are given explicit exemption from the laws about child restraints. My wife, taking my kiddo around, has had to stop using Uber because they turn up, see the kid, and drive off cancelling the fare. However, Taxis do know the law, and are centrally enforced into permitting children. So she often makes some trips with uber, and some with taxis depending on when my kids along.

Roughly speaking, same time of day, same route, same tolls. 25 - 30 dollar Uber, 40 - 60 dollar Taxi.

Its a pretty steep charge for "Understands the laws regarding child restraints"

Also worth noting, age is a protected characteristic in Australia, Uber refuses to do anything about their drivers, but when I have enough evidence of rejected fares I am considering throwing it to some hungry lawyers.

At least Victoria and NSW treat ubers exactly like private cars in terms of child restraints.

"Cannot carry safely" is valid defence for whatever discrimination suit I believe.

Then again, plenty of Uber drivers carry a booster seat, I wonder why Uber doesn't just have a checkbox for that.

Yeah but in QLD: https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/rules/children/exemp...

"Child restraints are not required on buses, trains or personalised transport services such as taxi, limousine and ride-booking services. A bus is a motor vehicle that can carry 13 or more people (including the driver)."

Have not spotted a booster seat, or been offered one in an uber in like 3 years with the kiddo.

"Cannot Safely Carry" be hard to justify when the legal definition permits them to just sit in a normal seat with a normal belt.

In my region an Uber to the airport is still cheaper than a taxi and much more convenient

pffft - 901 Bus to Broadmeadows station, then jump onto the train to Southern Cross

Total cost: $AU2.85

Takes FOREVER though :)

And taxis weren't competitive because they were heavily regulated in most markets by a medallion system that artificially kept the supply low.

In Brazil, it wasn't a matter of regulation, but honest because multiple taxi drivers normally drive to where you want really slow to increase the cost of your travel. Although, when they don't have any passengers they drive like crazy and really unsafe!

> Does no one have any memory of what taxis were like and how much they cost? The taxis are gone because they weren't competitive.

And now in places like Seattle, Uber and Lyft are far more expensive than traditional taxis. Taking uber or lyft from the seatac airport to anywhere within a 30 minute driving distance is ridiculously costly now.

In other words Uber did not bribe the politicians enough in their favor, market was not favorable for them, so they exited.

Even in Ukraine, it's far more expensive than the local equivalent which works flawlessly.

It is precisely in unregulated markets I would want to use a ride shape app else they'd try to scam you on the price. Multiple times I've had drivers attempt to triple the agreed to price, or I'd have to haggle them down before the ride etc. This was over 20 years ago and Uber and the like did away with all that.

Also, these are generally cash economies. Drivers use Uber to get leads but will then negotiate the actual ride off-platform stripping Uber of their cut.

May be in developing countries. In developed countries, qualities matter. And Uber tends to do much better there, even with higher price.

Read the article to find out.

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