7 ms·

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, an

by 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.
iamshs 10y ago
I have never seen a clean taxi except once, and also 80% of drivers had broken machines and took me to ATMs instead. One guy even had his own square reader, which I thought was nifty. But the best part was discovering that our new home address was blacklisted by taxis due to previous occupants shenanigans. Thank god Uber came and smashed them into the ground.
- p4wnc6 10y ago
  More than one taxi is clean. Fewer than 80% of taxi card readers are broken. No one will believe your claim of being blacklisted unless you give proof, and taxi services have hardly been "smashed into the ground" by Uber. I continue to enjoy using taxis in every urban area I travel to, and look forward to the way taxis keep competition pressure high for Uber by adopting various changes to make their level of service indistinguishable in the new ways that customers have enjoyed using Uber.
  - subway 10y ago
    No one will believe your claim of consistent reliable service without proof. The taxi industry has fucked its own reputation quite thoroughly.
    - p4wnc6 10y ago
      No, the taxi services (in Boston, anyway, which qualifies all of my comments) have an average-to-good reputation. Uber tries to steer opinion against it, but since people have perfectly fine experiences with taxis most of the time, that doesn't work. Also, there is no singular reputation that represents all taxi services. Your idea that all taxi services have a bad reputation only further makes your argument unbelievable. A mom & pop business operating a few taxis in a small suburb is way different than a highly regulated city taxi service competing for medallions. Taxis in some cities are always good, while in other cities they are always bad. Taxis in some countries aren't regulated well enough, making them unsafe, but then in others they are regulated and safe. "The taxi industry" is (mostly) just a fiction that Uber enthusiasts make up. It certainly is when it comes to taxi service reputations, which vary locally.
eropple 10y ago
> 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. Safe, sure, to the best of my knowledge. Clean? Nuh-uh. Punctual? Nuh-uh. Able to take my credit card? Maybe 50% of the time. "It's broken," and suddenly it's not broken when I shrug and get out of the car. And with one exception (a dedicated airport service), every dispatcher I ever dealt with was at best a prick. The only time I use taxis now is departing Logan, where I have no choice because they banned Ubers.
- p4wnc6 10y ago
  If these are your experiences, then your experiences seem to be very different than the average case, especially the 50% non-functioning card reader experience. While I'm sorry that you have had such bad experiences, since your experiences differ so much from what is common, I don't feel people should base their expectations on what you say. Instead, you can be nearly certain that it will be a clean, modern taxi, with a functioning card reader, that arrives on time and doesn't require a long wait. To be fair to Uber, you still can expect taxis to cost more and you still have to watch out for drivers who spot a sucker and take you the long way for a larger fare. Taxis aren't perfect. But taxis also are not rusted out death traps of lateness with serial killers for drivers and credit card readers that make you sexually barren, as apparently the army of Uber social engineering commenters wants us to believe.
  - abritinthebay 10y ago
    What everyone is telling you is that your experience is not the "average case"...
    - markatkinson 10y ago
      Ha. This was an odd thread to read, the averages just aren't averaging out. Try living in Cape Town. Before Uber arrived here taxi drivers were straight up extortionists. I mean that in the literal sense. I used to have to pay anywhere for R100 to R150 minimum. Uber now averages about R50 - R60, and the experience is a pleasant one. So with my other side of the world experiences in mind I can see how something similar might happen elsewhere, such as Boston.
kaishiro 10y ago
Well, this is why we have anecdotes I suppose. I lived in Boston and Brookline for twelve years as well and find your claims equally laughable. We quite frequently found ourselves in cabs with credit card readers, only to be told they didn't work when it came time to pay. I also simply gave up using cabs trying to get to Logan because while they would usually be on time, there were others when they simply wouldn't show up at all. Now you're under the gun to find a ride - not sure if they're late or just not coming. All I can say is that while I believe you when you say these things (I have no reason to think you'd lie to make a point), I also think you've simply lived a very charmed life when it comes to taxi service in Massachusetts. The fact is, the taxis in Boston had very little reason to improve their service prior to competition from Uber. Now they're being forced to adapt to survive. Edit: spelling
- p4wnc6 10y ago
  Given that I easily rode in a hundred taxis all over Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, and Chestnut Hill, it would be extremely statistically unlikely that I just happened to get only the far above average good experiences each time. The anecdote I described also matches the general experiences of all my friends and family as well, with occasional outliers (both good and bad), so I feel very confident in saying that an average case taxi ride anywhere in the Boston area involves a clean, modern taxi, polite driver, properly functioning credit card machine, a short wait (and no wait at all if you call the dispatcher ahead). Yes, of course there is variance and sometimes people will have a worse experience. Those worse experiences are very rare, and the taxi services overall are very good the vast majority of the time.
  - kaishiro 10y ago
    I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. It's the first I've ever heard of a satisfied taxi customer in Boston but I'm glad to hear there's at least one!
    - p4wnc6 10y ago
      It's not just me though. Dozens of friends, family members, classmates, and coworkers all described the same experiences I've had whenever the topic came up. The average-case taxi ride in Boston is quite good.

by p4wnc6 10y ago

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.

iamshs 10y ago

I have never seen a clean taxi except once, and also 80% of drivers had broken machines and took me to ATMs instead. One guy even had his own square reader, which I thought was nifty. But the best part was discovering that our new home address was blacklisted by taxis due to previous occupants shenanigans. Thank god Uber came and smashed them into the ground.

p4wnc6 10y ago
More than one taxi is clean. Fewer than 80% of taxi card readers are broken. No one will believe your claim of being blacklisted unless you give proof, and taxi services have hardly been "smashed into the ground" by Uber. I continue to enjoy using taxis in every urban area I travel to, and look forward to the way taxis keep competition pressure high for Uber by adopting various changes to make their level of service indistinguishable in the new ways that customers have enjoyed using Uber.
- subway 10y ago
  No one will believe your claim of consistent reliable service without proof. The taxi industry has fucked its own reputation quite thoroughly.
  - p4wnc6 10y ago
    No, the taxi services (in Boston, anyway, which qualifies all of my comments) have an average-to-good reputation. Uber tries to steer opinion against it, but since people have perfectly fine experiences with taxis most of the time, that doesn't work. Also, there is no singular reputation that represents all taxi services. Your idea that all taxi services have a bad reputation only further makes your argument unbelievable. A mom & pop business operating a few taxis in a small suburb is way different than a highly regulated city taxi service competing for medallions. Taxis in some cities are always good, while in other cities they are always bad. Taxis in some countries aren't regulated well enough, making them unsafe, but then in others they are regulated and safe. "The taxi industry" is (mostly) just a fiction that Uber enthusiasts make up. It certainly is when it comes to taxi service reputations, which vary locally.

eropple 10y ago

> 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. Safe, sure, to the best of my knowledge. Clean? Nuh-uh. Punctual? Nuh-uh. Able to take my credit card? Maybe 50% of the time. "It's broken," and suddenly it's not broken when I shrug and get out of the car. And with one exception (a dedicated airport service), every dispatcher I ever dealt with was at best a prick. The only time I use taxis now is departing Logan, where I have no choice because they banned Ubers.

p4wnc6 10y ago
If these are your experiences, then your experiences seem to be very different than the average case, especially the 50% non-functioning card reader experience. While I'm sorry that you have had such bad experiences, since your experiences differ so much from what is common, I don't feel people should base their expectations on what you say. Instead, you can be nearly certain that it will be a clean, modern taxi, with a functioning card reader, that arrives on time and doesn't require a long wait. To be fair to Uber, you still can expect taxis to cost more and you still have to watch out for drivers who spot a sucker and take you the long way for a larger fare. Taxis aren't perfect. But taxis also are not rusted out death traps of lateness with serial killers for drivers and credit card readers that make you sexually barren, as apparently the army of Uber social engineering commenters wants us to believe.
- abritinthebay 10y ago
  What everyone is telling you is that your experience is not the "average case"...
  - markatkinson 10y ago
    Ha. This was an odd thread to read, the averages just aren't averaging out. Try living in Cape Town. Before Uber arrived here taxi drivers were straight up extortionists. I mean that in the literal sense. I used to have to pay anywhere for R100 to R150 minimum. Uber now averages about R50 - R60, and the experience is a pleasant one. So with my other side of the world experiences in mind I can see how something similar might happen elsewhere, such as Boston.

kaishiro 10y ago

Well, this is why we have anecdotes I suppose. I lived in Boston and Brookline for twelve years as well and find your claims equally laughable. We quite frequently found ourselves in cabs with credit card readers, only to be told they didn't work when it came time to pay. I also simply gave up using cabs trying to get to Logan because while they would usually be on time, there were others when they simply wouldn't show up at all. Now you're under the gun to find a ride - not sure if they're late or just not coming. All I can say is that while I believe you when you say these things (I have no reason to think you'd lie to make a point), I also think you've simply lived a very charmed life when it comes to taxi service in Massachusetts. The fact is, the taxis in Boston had very little reason to improve their service prior to competition from Uber. Now they're being forced to adapt to survive. Edit: spelling

p4wnc6 10y ago
Given that I easily rode in a hundred taxis all over Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, and Chestnut Hill, it would be extremely statistically unlikely that I just happened to get only the far above average good experiences each time. The anecdote I described also matches the general experiences of all my friends and family as well, with occasional outliers (both good and bad), so I feel very confident in saying that an average case taxi ride anywhere in the Boston area involves a clean, modern taxi, polite driver, properly functioning credit card machine, a short wait (and no wait at all if you call the dispatcher ahead). Yes, of course there is variance and sometimes people will have a worse experience. Those worse experiences are very rare, and the taxi services overall are very good the vast majority of the time.
- kaishiro 10y ago
  I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. It's the first I've ever heard of a satisfied taxi customer in Boston but I'm glad to hear there's at least one!
  - p4wnc6 10y ago
    It's not just me though. Dozens of friends, family members, classmates, and coworkers all described the same experiences I've had whenever the topic came up. The average-case taxi ride in Boston is quite good.