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I think some of the genius of Uber was identifying an industry where the quality was so incredibly low, and yet customers tolerated it anyway. I used to catch

I think some of the genius of Uber was identifying an industry where the quality was so incredibly low, and yet customers tolerated it anyway. I used to catch taxis every week, and one taxi driver spent the trip explaining to me why he believed Hitler had the right idea. Another taxi driver lectured me on the religious immorality of nightclubs & drinking alcohol before letting me out of his car. Another driver spent the trip talking to his girlfriend on the phone, forbidding her to take a job she had been offered because he believed a woman's place was in the home. Uber is soooo much better, but the quality bar is so low that it isn't difficult to be better. It's just that no-one had dared to compete before (because government regulations prohibited anyone from doing so).

thearn4 11y ago
Agreed. I had to take a cab from O'Hare to Skokie a few months back (because I can't expense an Uber w/the gov't travel system). Smelled like fresh urine, and the guy had no idea where he was going. I had to direct him with my phone. And he still expected a tip.
- ewzimm 11y ago
  With the most recent taxi I took, the driver didn't know how to program his GPS, so he handed it to me to program and then ignored it, so I had to also program my phone, which he also ignored, so I had to call out every turn several times, which he also ignored, backtracking, extending the route, and asking where we were, to one of the main streets in the city. Next I tried Uber twice, and the drivers showed up immediately, were friendly, and offered a tour of interesting spots in the city as we went and made suggestions about favorite places to visit around town. Also, the same trip was 1/10th the price. If that's even sometimes typical, I don't see how Uber can lose. I do hope the company can act responsibly and keep up that kind of service.
jzwinck 11y ago
I have found a fairly frequent distinction between taxi drivers and Uber drivers as well. Taxi drivers must be at least 30 years old, which may skew it slightly, though young Uber drivers are not the norm either. Uber drivers tend to shoot the shit more, talk informally about business, about their day jobs, maybe about politics or what restaurants are nearby. Taxi drivers tend to talk about the past, about passengers they've had, or about how bad other drivers are. Maybe this is because a lot of Uber drivers are only part-time, so their life experience has more facets. Maybe it's because of the age bias. Or perhaps it's because feedback about taxi drivers is rarely registered. In any case, the expected value of conversation is higher with Uber than a taxi. I suspect it's likely to level out over time; I hope taxis drivers will up their game rather than Uber ones lowering theirs.
_yosefk 11y ago
It took me a while to decide to drive my own car, and one of the incidents prompting me to do it was when a taxi driver, having arrived at the destination (in this instance, the building where I worked), had walked out to urinate, right there on the sidewalk, in plain sight. It's kinda sad how without personal accountability, that's the service that you get, and on the other hand, how Orwellian many of the ways to make workers accountable are.
bunnymancer 11y ago
There's something to be said about an industry where the bar for "good" is the service employee just not talking to you at all for an extended period of time.
- wavefunction 11y ago
  I like to talk to my taxi drivers. They've mostly been immigrants and I ask them about their home country, their family, what they think about America. It's been great every time.
  - harlanlewis 11y ago
    In addition to the nice things you said, I've found out about lots of incredible ethnic food I never would have heard about otherwise. A ride with a Tajik driver led to an incredible Afghan restaurant (which is apparently as close as the Bay Area gets to Tajikistan's cousine). Drivers in general are in one of those very interesting roles that interacts with a broad swatch of the population. Even aside from their own background, they are one of the stirring sticks that mixes a place's cultures together.

thearn4 11y ago

Agreed. I had to take a cab from O'Hare to Skokie a few months back (because I can't expense an Uber w/the gov't travel system). Smelled like fresh urine, and the guy had no idea where he was going. I had to direct him with my phone. And he still expected a tip.

ewzimm 11y ago
With the most recent taxi I took, the driver didn't know how to program his GPS, so he handed it to me to program and then ignored it, so I had to also program my phone, which he also ignored, so I had to call out every turn several times, which he also ignored, backtracking, extending the route, and asking where we were, to one of the main streets in the city. Next I tried Uber twice, and the drivers showed up immediately, were friendly, and offered a tour of interesting spots in the city as we went and made suggestions about favorite places to visit around town. Also, the same trip was 1/10th the price. If that's even sometimes typical, I don't see how Uber can lose. I do hope the company can act responsibly and keep up that kind of service.

jzwinck 11y ago

I have found a fairly frequent distinction between taxi drivers and Uber drivers as well. Taxi drivers must be at least 30 years old, which may skew it slightly, though young Uber drivers are not the norm either. Uber drivers tend to shoot the shit more, talk informally about business, about their day jobs, maybe about politics or what restaurants are nearby. Taxi drivers tend to talk about the past, about passengers they've had, or about how bad other drivers are. Maybe this is because a lot of Uber drivers are only part-time, so their life experience has more facets. Maybe it's because of the age bias. Or perhaps it's because feedback about taxi drivers is rarely registered. In any case, the expected value of conversation is higher with Uber than a taxi. I suspect it's likely to level out over time; I hope taxis drivers will up their game rather than Uber ones lowering theirs.

_yosefk 11y ago

It took me a while to decide to drive my own car, and one of the incidents prompting me to do it was when a taxi driver, having arrived at the destination (in this instance, the building where I worked), had walked out to urinate, right there on the sidewalk, in plain sight. It's kinda sad how without personal accountability, that's the service that you get, and on the other hand, how Orwellian many of the ways to make workers accountable are.

bunnymancer 11y ago

There's something to be said about an industry where the bar for "good" is the service employee just not talking to you at all for an extended period of time.

wavefunction 11y ago
I like to talk to my taxi drivers. They've mostly been immigrants and I ask them about their home country, their family, what they think about America. It's been great every time.
- harlanlewis 11y ago
  In addition to the nice things you said, I've found out about lots of incredible ethnic food I never would have heard about otherwise. A ride with a Tajik driver led to an incredible Afghan restaurant (which is apparently as close as the Bay Area gets to Tajikistan's cousine). Drivers in general are in one of those very interesting roles that interacts with a broad swatch of the population. Even aside from their own background, they are one of the stirring sticks that mixes a place's cultures together.