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I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the taxi driver to drive you to a place where their chances of hailing a passenger back are slim then they will rudely turn you away (Tip: First hop in then tell the direction. It is a NYC law). I can go on and on but point being Uber is the much needed necessary evil in scarce resource cities like Manhattan.

stevenmays 11y ago
Also, some percentage of taxi drivers are racist. I've had tremendous difficulties hailing a cab, Uber removes this (and having to think about it).
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
  - smackfu 11y ago
    If you are a person-of-color, and the taxi picks you up, that driver isn't one of the racist ones.
- odonnellryan 11y ago
  This is very illegal, and you can report the taxi's that pass you.
  - prostoalex 11y ago
    With no way to document the pickup request, can't the driver just claim he "didn't see" the raised hand?
    - rokhayakebe 11y ago
      I guess you cannot claim to have not seen 15 people of the same color/race over the past 10 days.
  - srj 11y ago
    I would think this is a one person's word against another's type scenario. I mean I have had cabs nearly run me over and didn't bother reporting because I have no idea how I'd prove it, and it's usually difficult to see the cab number as they drive off.
    - odonnellryan 11y ago
      The number is a problem for sure. But you should still report it. It is the volume of reports that are considered. Plus, you're calling a facility run by the city, not calling the taxi company.
  - jvm 11y ago
    Problem solved! </sarcasm>
    - SilasX 11y ago
      Normally I'd consider your comment unhelpful and downvote it. But discussions like this are loaded with people who assure us that certain ultra-common behavior "is illegal", as if that somehow settles it, so I'm going to tolerate otherwise content-free reminders that this is not true.
      - jvm 11y ago
        Yup, I feel pretty strongly about the point I was making and, to be honest, I think it did have content despite my sardonic delivery.
        odonnellryan 11y ago
        I replied above to this. I don't disagree with you, but I think the sentiment is misplaced.
      - odonnellryan 11y ago
        Well, you should still report them. I see what you're saying. There are two fallacies at play: 1) same logic that people use to reason out of voting (it doesn't matter if I do x because it hasn't mattered before). 2) the logic that because it's illegal means it isn't permitted (which is, as you stated, not always true). I'm not sure if it truly matters if people report taxis. What I am sure about is it will never matter if no one cares to report them to begin with. This works for any system.
        SilasX 11y ago
        I think I (and those who agreed with me) failed to convey the subtext of our objection, which is: We don't care about illegality per se. We care about "not making the bad thing happen". If illegality accomplishes that, great! But if it doesn't, then it is non-responsive to our concerns to remind us that it does. It's like if you're going to friends talking about problems you encounter, and all they ever tell you is, "Well that's not supposed to happen". The process of enforcing the illegality puts a lot of burden on the customer, and your response recognizes that it requires people going far out of their way. In practice, a system that requires most individuals to make heroic sacrifices is the same as a system that just doesn't work.
- brianwawok 11y ago
  Can they see your name or profile picture when you hail? Or just your rating? I fear that racism tends to overcome technology ;(
  - andrewpi 11y ago
    No, they don't see that until they accept the hail.
    - brianwawok 11y ago
      Awesome. And they can cancel after accepting, but only so many times I think? So that helps a bit!
brianwawok 11y ago
Here is the problem 1) Uber comes in pays well - sources on the net for hip drivers - You get awesome English speaking nice drivers 2) Uber starts to drop rates 3) Good Uber drivers quit for lack of pay, existing cabbies start to drive for Uber 4) You end up getting the same cabbies as before Uber, but with surge pricing. It takes a while, but eventually it ends back up in the same exact place as before :( Totally happened in Chicago in front of my eyes.
- cm2012 11y ago
  But currently Uber is cheaper than cabbies anyway. You're saying Uber will drop rates even lower?
  - dopamean 11y ago
    I have never taken an Uber in NYC that was cheaper than the equivalent cab ride. Somehow it always manages to work out to more.
  - brianwawok 11y ago
    Not rate to customer. Rate to drivers - which makes the good drivers leave. In a new market Uber will pay something like 95-110% of fares taken in to drivers (not exact numbers, would need to look). Over the long run I think it drops to 60-70%, or something significantly worse (as clearly paying drivers 110% of income is not sustainable).
    - dotBen 11y ago
      Not true. Uber sets a commission (differs across different markets) with a new driver and that's what they get from the miles + time portion of the fare. If Uber decides to change the commission it almost always grandfathers existing drivers to what they had when they joined.
      - billmalarky 11y ago
        Well sure, they don't have a monopoly _yet_.
cm2012 11y ago
Not to mention - in my experience, hailing a cab is stressful since you're not sure when one will come by. Uber is not.
odonnellryan 11y ago
3 is illegal. You can report the taxi for not picking you up for any reason if their on-duty light is on.
- bko 11y ago
  I doubt many people actually go to the effort of reporting these taxis. Just ask minorities in outer boroughs who have been complaining about this for decades.
  - odonnellryan 11y ago
    I understand. I'm not trying to misplace blame, but if they aren't reporting it to officials, how can they expect something to be done? Stories of not getting picked up and rumors of complaints are not the same as "Taxi number ZX123 did not pick me up, though they were on duty and looked directly at me hailing him". There is no proof of the incident, but at least there is the official record. It gets logged, it's a statistic, and it's something officials in the city can state: "we've had X number of complaints this year about taxis. This is up twice from last year."
- josu 11y ago
  So is 1, but it doesn't seem to matter.
dominotw 11y ago
In Chicago 4. They pretend that ccard machines are not working. Demand cash. 5. Cars are so old that someone of them have no Air conditioning. 6. Drivers often have BO and are often chewing gutka(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutka) 7. Rude. This needs to be said again.
- pavel_lishin 11y ago
  In New York, I believe that if a card reader is broken, a taxi driver has to inform you of this before you get in the car. I mean, it's obviously a scam, so most of the time they don't, and they're not actually broken, but at least there's something you can yell back at him when you arrive and he demands cash.
- emidln 11y ago
  Number 4 results in free rides if they tell you after the fact. It's law in Chicago that they must accept credit cards.
ChrisLTD 11y ago
I've encountered a few rude cabbies in my last three years here, but the majority have been nice. However, I agree 100% that they tend to drive like maniacs.
codyb 11y ago
Why would you ignore the tip? Points one and three are valid, and you should always hop in before you direct, but ignoring the tip on what is essentially a luxury good (metro is $2.75 a ride and you can transfer as many times as you need to get where you need to go) is quite rude when it's expected and part of the culture. If you can't afford to tip your taxi driver, take the train. Sorry.
- dreaminvm 11y ago
  A tip is additional compensation for great service solely at the discretion of the passenger. If cab drivers expect a tip regardless of service quality, then the tip might as well be added to the cab rate.
  - SilasX 11y ago
    It should be like that, but it isn't. Mostly because, on those few cash fares, they would prefer not to report the income.
  - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
    > If cab drivers expect a tip regardless of service quality, then the tip might as well be added to the cab rate. Yeah, it should be, shouldn't it? But it isn't. The system is fucked, of course, but it's fucked in a very deliberate way where "protesting" by not tipping hurts the cabbie significantly, and the people responsible for the system not at all.
- asavadatti 11y ago
  That is no justification for the driver to be rude or snarky.
  - codyb 11y ago
    Hmm, I'm not sure if I agree. In certain Asian households it is expected that you take your shoes off, if you know this, and still stomp around the household in your shoes, would you say there was no justification for the owner of the household to be rude or snarky? You might be able to argue that the enlightened person might say "I don't know what has happened to this person today, or why they're doing this, and I will try to find out their story before assuming they're just being an uncultured ass", but there is certainly justification, especially when it comes to the fact that these people are earning their livelihoods in this way and the tips are an essential part of that.
vtlynch 11y ago
Once Uber drivers have been doing it for 15 years like cabbies have they will be just as rude
hackuser 11y ago
I've taken many NYC taxis and rarely experience problems.

stevenmays 11y ago

Also, some percentage of taxi drivers are racist. I've had tremendous difficulties hailing a cab, Uber removes this (and having to think about it).

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
- smackfu 11y ago
  If you are a person-of-color, and the taxi picks you up, that driver isn't one of the racist ones.
odonnellryan 11y ago
This is very illegal, and you can report the taxi's that pass you.
- prostoalex 11y ago
  With no way to document the pickup request, can't the driver just claim he "didn't see" the raised hand?
  - rokhayakebe 11y ago
    I guess you cannot claim to have not seen 15 people of the same color/race over the past 10 days.
- srj 11y ago
  I would think this is a one person's word against another's type scenario. I mean I have had cabs nearly run me over and didn't bother reporting because I have no idea how I'd prove it, and it's usually difficult to see the cab number as they drive off.
  - odonnellryan 11y ago
    The number is a problem for sure. But you should still report it. It is the volume of reports that are considered. Plus, you're calling a facility run by the city, not calling the taxi company.
- jvm 11y ago
  Problem solved! </sarcasm>
  - SilasX 11y ago
    Normally I'd consider your comment unhelpful and downvote it. But discussions like this are loaded with people who assure us that certain ultra-common behavior "is illegal", as if that somehow settles it, so I'm going to tolerate otherwise content-free reminders that this is not true.
    - jvm 11y ago
      Yup, I feel pretty strongly about the point I was making and, to be honest, I think it did have content despite my sardonic delivery.
      - odonnellryan 11y ago
        I replied above to this. I don't disagree with you, but I think the sentiment is misplaced.
    - odonnellryan 11y ago
      Well, you should still report them. I see what you're saying. There are two fallacies at play: 1) same logic that people use to reason out of voting (it doesn't matter if I do x because it hasn't mattered before). 2) the logic that because it's illegal means it isn't permitted (which is, as you stated, not always true). I'm not sure if it truly matters if people report taxis. What I am sure about is it will never matter if no one cares to report them to begin with. This works for any system.
      - SilasX 11y ago
        I think I (and those who agreed with me) failed to convey the subtext of our objection, which is: We don't care about illegality per se. We care about "not making the bad thing happen". If illegality accomplishes that, great! But if it doesn't, then it is non-responsive to our concerns to remind us that it does. It's like if you're going to friends talking about problems you encounter, and all they ever tell you is, "Well that's not supposed to happen". The process of enforcing the illegality puts a lot of burden on the customer, and your response recognizes that it requires people going far out of their way. In practice, a system that requires most individuals to make heroic sacrifices is the same as a system that just doesn't work.
brianwawok 11y ago
Can they see your name or profile picture when you hail? Or just your rating? I fear that racism tends to overcome technology ;(
- andrewpi 11y ago
  No, they don't see that until they accept the hail.
  - brianwawok 11y ago
    Awesome. And they can cancel after accepting, but only so many times I think? So that helps a bit!

brianwawok 11y ago

Here is the problem 1) Uber comes in pays well - sources on the net for hip drivers - You get awesome English speaking nice drivers 2) Uber starts to drop rates 3) Good Uber drivers quit for lack of pay, existing cabbies start to drive for Uber 4) You end up getting the same cabbies as before Uber, but with surge pricing. It takes a while, but eventually it ends back up in the same exact place as before :( Totally happened in Chicago in front of my eyes.

cm2012 11y ago
But currently Uber is cheaper than cabbies anyway. You're saying Uber will drop rates even lower?
- dopamean 11y ago
  I have never taken an Uber in NYC that was cheaper than the equivalent cab ride. Somehow it always manages to work out to more.
- brianwawok 11y ago
  Not rate to customer. Rate to drivers - which makes the good drivers leave. In a new market Uber will pay something like 95-110% of fares taken in to drivers (not exact numbers, would need to look). Over the long run I think it drops to 60-70%, or something significantly worse (as clearly paying drivers 110% of income is not sustainable).
  - dotBen 11y ago
    Not true. Uber sets a commission (differs across different markets) with a new driver and that's what they get from the miles + time portion of the fare. If Uber decides to change the commission it almost always grandfathers existing drivers to what they had when they joined.
    - billmalarky 11y ago
      Well sure, they don't have a monopoly _yet_.

cm2012 11y ago

Not to mention - in my experience, hailing a cab is stressful since you're not sure when one will come by. Uber is not.

odonnellryan 11y ago

3 is illegal. You can report the taxi for not picking you up for any reason if their on-duty light is on.

bko 11y ago
I doubt many people actually go to the effort of reporting these taxis. Just ask minorities in outer boroughs who have been complaining about this for decades.
- odonnellryan 11y ago
  I understand. I'm not trying to misplace blame, but if they aren't reporting it to officials, how can they expect something to be done? Stories of not getting picked up and rumors of complaints are not the same as "Taxi number ZX123 did not pick me up, though they were on duty and looked directly at me hailing him". There is no proof of the incident, but at least there is the official record. It gets logged, it's a statistic, and it's something officials in the city can state: "we've had X number of complaints this year about taxis. This is up twice from last year."
josu 11y ago
So is 1, but it doesn't seem to matter.

dominotw 11y ago

In Chicago 4. They pretend that ccard machines are not working. Demand cash. 5. Cars are so old that someone of them have no Air conditioning. 6. Drivers often have BO and are often chewing gutka(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutka) 7. Rude. This needs to be said again.

pavel_lishin 11y ago
In New York, I believe that if a card reader is broken, a taxi driver has to inform you of this before you get in the car. I mean, it's obviously a scam, so most of the time they don't, and they're not actually broken, but at least there's something you can yell back at him when you arrive and he demands cash.
emidln 11y ago
Number 4 results in free rides if they tell you after the fact. It's law in Chicago that they must accept credit cards.

ChrisLTD 11y ago

I've encountered a few rude cabbies in my last three years here, but the majority have been nice. However, I agree 100% that they tend to drive like maniacs.

codyb 11y ago

Why would you ignore the tip? Points one and three are valid, and you should always hop in before you direct, but ignoring the tip on what is essentially a luxury good (metro is $2.75 a ride and you can transfer as many times as you need to get where you need to go) is quite rude when it's expected and part of the culture. If you can't afford to tip your taxi driver, take the train. Sorry.

dreaminvm 11y ago
A tip is additional compensation for great service solely at the discretion of the passenger. If cab drivers expect a tip regardless of service quality, then the tip might as well be added to the cab rate.
- SilasX 11y ago
  It should be like that, but it isn't. Mostly because, on those few cash fares, they would prefer not to report the income.
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  > If cab drivers expect a tip regardless of service quality, then the tip might as well be added to the cab rate. Yeah, it should be, shouldn't it? But it isn't. The system is fucked, of course, but it's fucked in a very deliberate way where "protesting" by not tipping hurts the cabbie significantly, and the people responsible for the system not at all.
asavadatti 11y ago
That is no justification for the driver to be rude or snarky.
- codyb 11y ago
  Hmm, I'm not sure if I agree. In certain Asian households it is expected that you take your shoes off, if you know this, and still stomp around the household in your shoes, would you say there was no justification for the owner of the household to be rude or snarky? You might be able to argue that the enlightened person might say "I don't know what has happened to this person today, or why they're doing this, and I will try to find out their story before assuming they're just being an uncultured ass", but there is certainly justification, especially when it comes to the fact that these people are earning their livelihoods in this way and the tips are an essential part of that.

vtlynch 11y ago

Once Uber drivers have been doing it for 15 years like cabbies have they will be just as rude

hackuser 11y ago

I've taken many NYC taxis and rarely experience problems.