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My take on the whole Uber vs Taxis thing is much more about just convenience and user experience. If the taxis got together and created an app that you could h

by daemin 10y ago

My take on the whole Uber vs Taxis thing is much more about just convenience and user experience. If the taxis got together and created an app that you could hail a taxi, track its progress, and follow it to your destination, and take the payment automatically, there would have been no (or far less) need of Uber. I have had several experiences where I called for a taxi, but none arrived. Then I went to the main road and hailed one within minutes. So it's all about user experience.

kuschku 10y ago
> If the taxis got together and created an app that you could hail a taxi, track its progress, and follow it to your destination, and take the payment automatically, there would have been no (or far less) need of Uber. They did. Before Uber even existed. Check out http://www.taxi.eu/en/ http://www.taxi.eu/en/
- dx034 10y ago
  The problem is that it doesn't solve the problem with availability. With surge pricing, Uber is able to get you a ride whenever you want, if you are willing to pay for it. With fixed pricing it regularly happens that you won't be able to get a taxi for hours during busy periods. I've just been to Potsdam (Germany, Uber is banned there) and wanted to get a taxi back at night. I tried for 45 minutes by hailing and calling the local number several times, with no success. Either I couldn't reach anyone or they told me they don't have anyone available. Luckily I did this while already walking in the right direction, so I was at the hotel after 80 minutes. With uber I'd have paid more but would've had a ride within 10 min or so. This ability to always get a ride within a few minutes, no matter where and when, that is what I (and many others) like about uber. Tracking cars in the app is nice but hardly the defining factor.
spraak 10y ago
The most amazing ride service exists in Thailand. All throughout the cities are modified Izuzu trucks with a signature red color (there are other colors for going outside the city) where the truck bed has a covered canopy with two benches (parallel to the direction of travel). To use the service you walk to the road, raise your arm and any available passing red truck will stop and ask you where you're going and then they take you there. The fee you pay is dependent on the distance but generally starts at 20 Bath per person (in the city I live). For context, that's the cost of an ice cream at the park, or water bottle at 7/11. In comparison, Uber recently came to this city and it's very poor. It's more expensive than a red truck and the only possible extra convenience it could provide is a pick up from your door, but most red truck drivers would arrange that with you too. The Uber drivers here also seem not to have had any training.. I gave up trying to use it when the driver asked me to walk a few hundred meters instead of picking me up where I was on the GPS.. that's not the point! I'm glad to continue using red trucks

by daemin 10y ago

kuschku 10y ago

> If the taxis got together and created an app that you could hail a taxi, track its progress, and follow it to your destination, and take the payment automatically, there would have been no (or far less) need of Uber. They did. Before Uber even existed. Check out http://www.taxi.eu/en/ http://www.taxi.eu/en/

dx034 10y ago
The problem is that it doesn't solve the problem with availability. With surge pricing, Uber is able to get you a ride whenever you want, if you are willing to pay for it. With fixed pricing it regularly happens that you won't be able to get a taxi for hours during busy periods. I've just been to Potsdam (Germany, Uber is banned there) and wanted to get a taxi back at night. I tried for 45 minutes by hailing and calling the local number several times, with no success. Either I couldn't reach anyone or they told me they don't have anyone available. Luckily I did this while already walking in the right direction, so I was at the hotel after 80 minutes. With uber I'd have paid more but would've had a ride within 10 min or so. This ability to always get a ride within a few minutes, no matter where and when, that is what I (and many others) like about uber. Tracking cars in the app is nice but hardly the defining factor.

spraak 10y ago

The most amazing ride service exists in Thailand. All throughout the cities are modified Izuzu trucks with a signature red color (there are other colors for going outside the city) where the truck bed has a covered canopy with two benches (parallel to the direction of travel). To use the service you walk to the road, raise your arm and any available passing red truck will stop and ask you where you're going and then they take you there. The fee you pay is dependent on the distance but generally starts at 20 Bath per person (in the city I live). For context, that's the cost of an ice cream at the park, or water bottle at 7/11. In comparison, Uber recently came to this city and it's very poor. It's more expensive than a red truck and the only possible extra convenience it could provide is a pick up from your door, but most red truck drivers would arrange that with you too. The Uber drivers here also seem not to have had any training.. I gave up trying to use it when the driver asked me to walk a few hundred meters instead of picking me up where I was on the GPS.. that's not the point! I'm glad to continue using red trucks