5 ms·

They do. A "limo" is just a towncar. It's no different from something like UberBlack. Go to any major airport and you'll see a bunch of them lined up waiting fo

by nilkn 10y ago

They do. A "limo" is just a towncar. It's no different from something like UberBlack. Go to any major airport and you'll see a bunch of them lined up waiting for passengers nearby the taxis. I started using this service before Uber because taxis were extraordinarily unreliable and this service was always spot on. And as time has went on I see no reason to switch to Uber for this particular well-defined and scheduled-in-advance ride.

morgante 10y ago
I think you view of the world is rather skewed if you think "normal" people take a town car to the airport. Even as a well-paid software engineer, I never use UberBlack—only UberX.
- nilkn 10y ago
  I just looked up a fare estimate and UberBlack is about twice as expensive as what I pay. So I suspect you're just as abnormal as me if you pay anyone at all to drive you to the airport instead of driving yourself. That actually drives home my point of not using Uber in this case. Why bother when I'm getting the same service for 50% of the cost with someone I know, trust, and have actually become friends with?
  - morgante 10y ago
    If UberBlack is 2x the price you pay, what you pay is close to 2x what UberX costs (depending on the market). It's fairly normal to take a taxi to the airport (particularly at your destination), but paying 2x the cost of a taxi for a private car service is definitely "luxury."
    - nilkn 10y ago
      4x is not the ratio of the prices that I'm seeing from the fare estimator. Regardless, if you want to believe that I'm not normal, that's your prerogative, though I'm not sure what benefit you derive from insisting on this. Additionally I am highly suspect of your implicit claim that you're more "normal" than me if you regularly take Uber to and from the airport. I rarely even fly. If you fly more than twice a year and take Uber each time, you are spending more than me on rides to and from the airport. Your choice of words is curious to me as well. For instance, you distinguish the limo service I use as being "private". What does that mean in this context, and how is Uber not private? You've misunderstood me if you think I have a personal chauffeur who exclusively works for me. That's not how towncar services work. It's basically just a guy and a few friends who have a tiny company where they drive people to and from the airport. By the way, I want to point out that Uber's surge pricing could easily make UberX cost more than what I pay. And surge pricing is fairly likely to be in effect any time I'm trying to get to the airport.
- dgacmu 10y ago
  It's very location-dependent. In Pittsburgh, a taxi to the airport can be $55, and a towncar service $75. More importantly, you can make a reservation for the towncar in advance, and know that they'll be there, instead of playing 6am taxi roulette, which often does not work well. A lot of the faculty at CMU use towncar services for that reason. Pittsburgh's monopoly taxi service from yellow cab is remarkably terrible, though, so this may not generalize. They're famous for simply not bothering to show up after you call them.
  - nilkn 10y ago
    It's the same deal for me. I stopped using taxis for getting to the airport years ago when they simply failed to show up even remotely on time (either not at all or 30+ minutes late). UberX is showing that it would cost about $60 to get to the airport with no surge pricing. With even 1.5x, though, that'd balloon to $90, and I've seen it as high as 2x during some times when I've needed to get to the airport after work.

by nilkn 10y ago

morgante 10y ago

I think you view of the world is rather skewed if you think "normal" people take a town car to the airport. Even as a well-paid software engineer, I never use UberBlack—only UberX.

nilkn 10y ago
I just looked up a fare estimate and UberBlack is about twice as expensive as what I pay. So I suspect you're just as abnormal as me if you pay anyone at all to drive you to the airport instead of driving yourself. That actually drives home my point of not using Uber in this case. Why bother when I'm getting the same service for 50% of the cost with someone I know, trust, and have actually become friends with?
- morgante 10y ago
  If UberBlack is 2x the price you pay, what you pay is close to 2x what UberX costs (depending on the market). It's fairly normal to take a taxi to the airport (particularly at your destination), but paying 2x the cost of a taxi for a private car service is definitely "luxury."
  - nilkn 10y ago
    4x is not the ratio of the prices that I'm seeing from the fare estimator. Regardless, if you want to believe that I'm not normal, that's your prerogative, though I'm not sure what benefit you derive from insisting on this. Additionally I am highly suspect of your implicit claim that you're more "normal" than me if you regularly take Uber to and from the airport. I rarely even fly. If you fly more than twice a year and take Uber each time, you are spending more than me on rides to and from the airport. Your choice of words is curious to me as well. For instance, you distinguish the limo service I use as being "private". What does that mean in this context, and how is Uber not private? You've misunderstood me if you think I have a personal chauffeur who exclusively works for me. That's not how towncar services work. It's basically just a guy and a few friends who have a tiny company where they drive people to and from the airport. By the way, I want to point out that Uber's surge pricing could easily make UberX cost more than what I pay. And surge pricing is fairly likely to be in effect any time I'm trying to get to the airport.
dgacmu 10y ago
It's very location-dependent. In Pittsburgh, a taxi to the airport can be $55, and a towncar service $75. More importantly, you can make a reservation for the towncar in advance, and know that they'll be there, instead of playing 6am taxi roulette, which often does not work well. A lot of the faculty at CMU use towncar services for that reason. Pittsburgh's monopoly taxi service from yellow cab is remarkably terrible, though, so this may not generalize. They're famous for simply not bothering to show up after you call them.
- nilkn 10y ago
  It's the same deal for me. I stopped using taxis for getting to the airport years ago when they simply failed to show up even remotely on time (either not at all or 30+ minutes late). UberX is showing that it would cost about $60 to get to the airport with no surge pricing. With even 1.5x, though, that'd balloon to $90, and I've seen it as high as 2x during some times when I've needed to get to the airport after work.