14 ms·

I live in Boston. Until uber, the minimum taxi fair was $6, they always had broken credit card machines, and there was never enough cabs when you needed them. I

by seibelj 10y ago

I live in Boston. Until uber, the minimum taxi fair was $6, they always had broken credit card machines, and there was never enough cabs when you needed them. I remember s New Year's Eve where we had to promise the dispatcher we would pay a $100 tip to get anyone to pick us up. The "reducing drunk driving" theory was a happy side effect but ultimately not important. Über destroyed a a BS industry full of idiots and made it professional and reliable.

chipperyman573 10y ago
Out of curiosity, did you end up tipping $100? I feel like a taxi driver's job is to pick up people at a set rate and they forced you into promising the $100 because you knew otherwise they wouldn't do that job. Curious on your view.
p4wnc6 10y ago
I lived in Cambridge for eight years (moved last summer) and never experienced anything remotely like this. I lived on Prospect Street right near Central Sq, and frequently took taxis around the area. I called ahead to have taxis pick me up for early morning rides to the airport, and they were always early and helped me with my bags. I took taxis over to the Boston College area when I was taking music lessons at a studio there. I took taxis home from sports events and concerts near Fenway. Even when coming out of a crowded show at House of Blues, it was a short wait for taxis. I never once experienced a broken credit card machine. I once did ask a driver if they accepted credit cards, he said no, and I waited about 30 seconds for the next taxi to come by -- on a side street on the Somerville side of Porter Sq, so not even close to usual taxi spots. Getting taxis in Boston is cheap, safe, and reliable, with pretty short wait times, easy to deal with dispatchers, drivers who show up on time, cars that are clean and 99.999% of the time have functioning credit card machines. I honestly don't know what on earth you're talking about. None of this is an argument against Uber anyway, because people use Uber for features that even good taxis don't have, including price reduction, better real-time tracking, an app interface, and other things. And Uber drivers certainly can do things worse than taxis -- such as simply fail to show up, treat you rudely during the ride, or try to make you exit the car in an inconvenient/unsafe spot of the street at your destination. Uber is not intrinsically better about this kind of thing than taxis. But some things you absolutely cannot say, at least about taxis in the Boston area, are that they are anything but clean, safe, reliable, punctual, and able to take your credit card.
- unixhero 10y ago
  Taxis suck, globally.
  - p4wnc6 10y ago
    Except they really don't and are a great service in tons of places.
    - product50 10y ago
      Have you ever been in a taxi in US or India or Australia or even Canada? The entire experience sucks - from finding them, to convincing them to take you to your destination, to them rudely talking to you when you are explaining them your destination cross streets, to have them talking on the phone while driving, to have their taxi filthy dirty, to have them take you around to your destination in a non optimal way, to have them driving in a really rough manner, to have them ask for tip blatantly, to have their credit card reader not working, to them charging you a large amount for that 3 mile trip, to have them rudely tell you to get off on the other side of the road. It is such a miserable experience and I am glad the entire industry is getting killed. Speak for yourself when defending the taxi industry. You know nothing and I can prove that with experience and facts. It is so infuriating when fools like you come in and make a statement which has no firm basis and sense of truth.
      - Bahamut 10y ago
        Some of the terribleness of the taxi industry is on full display in Las Vegas at McCarran Airport - the taxi lines are long, and despite the posters mentioning the cost to various casinos on the strip, taxis will often try to convince you to take the interstate to rack up an additional $25 from you for such a short trip. It used to be even worse before the introduction to Uber/Lyft in the city. I'm glad the corrupt taxi industry is forced to change, their shenanigans have bled a lot of money from consumers.
      - kuschku 10y ago
        > Taxis suck, globally. You tried to defend this statement. Yet I live in northern Germany, Taxis are less than 10% more expensive than a comparable uber, have better service, are faster, and cleaner. I can order taxis via phone or a neat app (actually, there’s a bunch of them), basically anyone with a drivers license can start their own taxi company (so there is already a free market), and yet uber refused to comply with the market regulations (they need insurance for the cars). Your route is shown in the app when planning, you can pay via the app before the trip with taxi, and they often even offer to carry your bag up to your room at your destination. "Taxis suck, globally." is objectively false.

by seibelj 10y ago

chipperyman573 10y ago

Out of curiosity, did you end up tipping $100? I feel like a taxi driver's job is to pick up people at a set rate and they forced you into promising the $100 because you knew otherwise they wouldn't do that job. Curious on your view.

p4wnc6 10y ago

I lived in Cambridge for eight years (moved last summer) and never experienced anything remotely like this. I lived on Prospect Street right near Central Sq, and frequently took taxis around the area. I called ahead to have taxis pick me up for early morning rides to the airport, and they were always early and helped me with my bags. I took taxis over to the Boston College area when I was taking music lessons at a studio there. I took taxis home from sports events and concerts near Fenway. Even when coming out of a crowded show at House of Blues, it was a short wait for taxis. I never once experienced a broken credit card machine. I once did ask a driver if they accepted credit cards, he said no, and I waited about 30 seconds for the next taxi to come by -- on a side street on the Somerville side of Porter Sq, so not even close to usual taxi spots. Getting taxis in Boston is cheap, safe, and reliable, with pretty short wait times, easy to deal with dispatchers, drivers who show up on time, cars that are clean and 99.999% of the time have functioning credit card machines. I honestly don't know what on earth you're talking about. None of this is an argument against Uber anyway, because people use Uber for features that even good taxis don't have, including price reduction, better real-time tracking, an app interface, and other things. And Uber drivers certainly can do things worse than taxis -- such as simply fail to show up, treat you rudely during the ride, or try to make you exit the car in an inconvenient/unsafe spot of the street at your destination. Uber is not intrinsically better about this kind of thing than taxis. But some things you absolutely cannot say, at least about taxis in the Boston area, are that they are anything but clean, safe, reliable, punctual, and able to take your credit card.

unixhero 10y ago
Taxis suck, globally.
- p4wnc6 10y ago
  Except they really don't and are a great service in tons of places.
  - product50 10y ago
    Have you ever been in a taxi in US or India or Australia or even Canada? The entire experience sucks - from finding them, to convincing them to take you to your destination, to them rudely talking to you when you are explaining them your destination cross streets, to have them talking on the phone while driving, to have their taxi filthy dirty, to have them take you around to your destination in a non optimal way, to have them driving in a really rough manner, to have them ask for tip blatantly, to have their credit card reader not working, to them charging you a large amount for that 3 mile trip, to have them rudely tell you to get off on the other side of the road. It is such a miserable experience and I am glad the entire industry is getting killed. Speak for yourself when defending the taxi industry. You know nothing and I can prove that with experience and facts. It is so infuriating when fools like you come in and make a statement which has no firm basis and sense of truth.
    - Bahamut 10y ago
      Some of the terribleness of the taxi industry is on full display in Las Vegas at McCarran Airport - the taxi lines are long, and despite the posters mentioning the cost to various casinos on the strip, taxis will often try to convince you to take the interstate to rack up an additional $25 from you for such a short trip. It used to be even worse before the introduction to Uber/Lyft in the city. I'm glad the corrupt taxi industry is forced to change, their shenanigans have bled a lot of money from consumers.
    - kuschku 10y ago
      > Taxis suck, globally. You tried to defend this statement. Yet I live in northern Germany, Taxis are less than 10% more expensive than a comparable uber, have better service, are faster, and cleaner. I can order taxis via phone or a neat app (actually, there’s a bunch of them), basically anyone with a drivers license can start their own taxi company (so there is already a free market), and yet uber refused to comply with the market regulations (they need insurance for the cars). Your route is shown in the app when planning, you can pay via the app before the trip with taxi, and they often even offer to carry your bag up to your room at your destination. "Taxis suck, globally." is objectively false.