Uber vs Taxis

No thanks. In my experience, taxi drivers the world over have regularly been rude, untrustworthy, and found ways to swindle customers. Uber was a game changer. I have no idea why they need an army of engineers, and maybe they can cut costs. But I appreciate their existence and the competition they brought to an otherwise uncompetitive racket. I would rather pay double for an Uber than deal with traditional taxis.

I remember taxis before Uber/Lyft. They sucked. They were very expensive. Low availability - I once was stuck in the middle of one 200k+ city with literally no cars available after calling several companies. After an hour or so, I had to call friends to pick me up. Then, if you get a cab, you have no idea who is your driver and have no history and no resort if something happens - you could call the dispatcher again but they won't take complaints, as it's not their business, and ev

In my experience most Uber drivers were taxi drivers, so there is very little difference in that aspect. Sure, every now and then I get a noob that has to put the address into the GPS, but most of the time that is not the case. I have only taken a taxi once (in the bay area) in the last 2 years that I started using Uber and instantly regretted. It cost more, the condition of the car was horrendous, and the driver did not let me use his cable to charge my phone which I was using to call my friend

I guess it depends on where you live. Where I live, pre-Uber, I could never get a taxi in the first place. There were never any driving around to hail, and calling a cab company meant waiting 30-60 minutes, and more than half the time the taxi wouldn't show up at all. Drivers can and would take longer routes to run up the meter if they thought you weren't a savvy passenger. They'd also love to claim the credit card reader is broken, even when that was a violation of loc

I've never used Uber by myself (I think I've used it twice when someone else was organizing transport) as I've heard a lot about exploitation of workers in the beginning so I decided to just not use it.However, as I dreaded calling a taxi service - I never knew, which taxi service is good/had good prices, it was frequent, that taxi driver would take you long way just so you would pay more, and of course old mercedes which smelled awful was a norm here where I live. Some pe

What I like the most about Uber is that I click, wait (and in the meantime can track where is the car) plus I can use this application worldwide. If there was a similar, international app for regular taxis (including price estimate), then I would use it.(Taxi claim that regulations are to keep quality. But my brother's experience with Uber is much better than with regular taxis.)So, in short, while Uber is making it harder for regular taxi drivers (especially bad regular taxi companie

There was no such thing as a nice taxi before Uber. Not only did you have to schedule rides in advance, they were also incredibly unreliable. Prices were much higher and people routinely got scammed because you didn't know how much it would cost until you arrived.Uber/lyft is miles better than the old taxis.

Remind me, why do people favor Uber over a taxi?

Yeah I don't know maybe this is your experience. Maybe you're in a crowded city or something where everyone is tripping over themselves to drive for Uber/Lyft, but where I live there are often not enough drivers to meet demand.Having been stranded far from home, both late night and in the early evening, I see Uber & Lyft as providing a valuable service.Having been taken advantage of by taxi drivers on multiple occasions (I don't think I've ever actually had a g

I remember taxis before Uber/Lyft. They had a whole series of problems.Predicability - You wouldn't know how much the fare would be when getting into a taxi. In addition, driving indirect routes to charge more and claiming the ride cost more than the normal fare were common scams. Uber/Lyft tells you the price before you order the ride.Ease of payment - taxis had card machines pre Uber but the machines were frequently "broken" unless the rider spent time arguing th