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Traditional taxi companies are now increasingly employing 3rd-party apps which function much like Uber's. In many US cities, the "Curb" app will hail you a regu

Traditional taxi companies are now increasingly employing 3rd-party apps which function much like Uber's. In many US cities, the "Curb" app will hail you a regular taxi cab and allow you to pay for the whole thing through the app (including tip, even if you just happen to hail the cab without opening the app). Uber's long-game, and the reason they've been funded so handsomely, is the autonomous taxi plan. Its a pity that taxi companies were so slow to adapt to Uber by providing convenient ways to summon and pay for a cab. All that people really want is to get from point A to point B without a hassle.

pjmlp 10y ago
> Its a pity that taxi companies were so slow to adapt to Uber by providing convenient ways to summon and pay for a cab. Have you ever picked a taxi in Nordic countries? Those guys already had Uber like apps and all possible ways of paying for a ride, before Uber was a thing.
- crispyambulance 10y ago
  Never, but not surprised. How is Uber doing in Nordic countries?
  - pjmlp 10y ago
    Not sure, my last trip there has been around 2012.
  - Nekorosu 10y ago
    Talking about Sweden Uber is just another taxi company here. It's not possible to provide taxi service without having a license. Uber has to comply. Still it's more convenient to use their app because it has better UX than everything else on Swedish market.
    - gtirloni 10y ago
      Which isn't hard to replicate or improve upon. Is Uber fighting the local government in Sweden to have less regulation too? It seems that's what they are doing here (Brazil).
      - Nekorosu 10y ago
        I don't think so. They have already lost one legal battle and it's really hard for a corporation to lobby the government due to a lot of reasons: trade unions involvement, prevailing social-democratic mentality, one of the lowest levels of corruption in the world (4th place, probably related to the mentality). , (social-democracy and one of the lowest corruption levels in the world).
  - martinp 10y ago
    Uber remains illegal in Norway as all taxi drivers need a permit granted by the government. The subject is under heavy debate though.
debaserab2 10y ago
I have yet to see one of those app's come even close to replicating the experience that uber brings. It's one thing to have an app, it's another thing to have a well designed app with consistent policies that are followed the same by every driver. Any time I've had to use an uber clone apps (from a traditional taxi service, not lyft) they haven't instilled a lot of confidence in me to how reliable they are.
- darkmouth 10y ago
  True. Escaping the law, sexual harassment of employees and low wage to drivers aside, it will still make me feel very inconvenienced to see Uber go out of business. Not even Lyft comes close to how good and fast the Uber app is. I was sold the first time I used it. I just hope some other company steps in to fill in the void.
- crispyambulance 10y ago
  Although I admit the UX of Curb is not as seamless/slick as Uber's, it is certainly usable enough and given time the kinks will be worked out. IMHO it was a small price to pay for deleting my Uber account.
  - erroneousfunk 10y ago
    Do you think cab drivers have gotten better since Uber came out? I only take them from the airport occasionally now, but the biggest thing about pre-Uber taxis was the service issues.
    - gtirloni 10y ago
      As I've learned while participating in these discussions is that all of this is HIGHLY localized. The issues you have with taxis and/or Uber will not make sense in other places with different regulations, better apps, etc. Almost every regular/licensed taxi I take here, the driver has Uber/Lyft/99Taxi app running simultaneously so they can reach more clients. In that case, it's the same quality of service as before (which is just fine where I live, so Uber/Lyft aren't disrupting anything here).
galdosdi 10y ago
I honestly never had a problem with the UI of 1) Dial a 10 digit number 2) Someone says "Hello, XYZ car service" 3) You say "I need a car at the corner of Sample street and 123rd road" 4) They say "5 minutes" and hang up It takes the same or less time as using an app like Uber with fewer things that can go wrong.
- crispyambulance 10y ago
  Yeah, but you have to guess at which cab company to call and then dig up the number. With the Curb app, your request goes out to multiple cab companies and you usually get a cab that is very close.
- mcgrath_sh 10y ago
  That was effective in cities with good (or any) taxi service. In Pittsburgh, Uber and Lyft have utterly changed people's ability to get around the city. One Saturday night we wanted to go out to a place 10 minutes away. We called a taxi cab around 7:30/8:00. We were told that it would be between 2.5 and 3 hours for a cab, if one came. We were considered "out of the way" when we were a 10 minute ride from downtown/the main bar area in the city. Forget about getting a cab back from those bars. We used jitney cabs all the time to get home. Yellow cabs wouldn't bother or were too infrequent.
  - crispyambulance 10y ago
    I remember jitney's in Pgh !! In the 70's I used to ride in jitney cars with my mother to get back from the grocery store. In some cities, "jitneys" are called "hacks"-- unlicensed cab drivers driving their own cars. Perfectly safe if they're neighborhood folks that you know. There used to be a similar/related practice called "slugging" as well, it seems to have faded as Uber rose up.
  - galdosdi 10y ago
    Great point -- ridesharing apps have genuinely contributed something important in areas that didn't use to have much taxi service. My point is limited specifically to big cities that already had decent service -- in those places, there wasn't a significant improvement brought by Uber and friends.

pjmlp 10y ago

> Its a pity that taxi companies were so slow to adapt to Uber by providing convenient ways to summon and pay for a cab. Have you ever picked a taxi in Nordic countries? Those guys already had Uber like apps and all possible ways of paying for a ride, before Uber was a thing.

crispyambulance 10y ago
Never, but not surprised. How is Uber doing in Nordic countries?
- pjmlp 10y ago
  Not sure, my last trip there has been around 2012.
- Nekorosu 10y ago
  Talking about Sweden Uber is just another taxi company here. It's not possible to provide taxi service without having a license. Uber has to comply. Still it's more convenient to use their app because it has better UX than everything else on Swedish market.
  - gtirloni 10y ago
    Which isn't hard to replicate or improve upon. Is Uber fighting the local government in Sweden to have less regulation too? It seems that's what they are doing here (Brazil).
    - Nekorosu 10y ago
      I don't think so. They have already lost one legal battle and it's really hard for a corporation to lobby the government due to a lot of reasons: trade unions involvement, prevailing social-democratic mentality, one of the lowest levels of corruption in the world (4th place, probably related to the mentality). , (social-democracy and one of the lowest corruption levels in the world).
- martinp 10y ago
  Uber remains illegal in Norway as all taxi drivers need a permit granted by the government. The subject is under heavy debate though.

debaserab2 10y ago

I have yet to see one of those app's come even close to replicating the experience that uber brings. It's one thing to have an app, it's another thing to have a well designed app with consistent policies that are followed the same by every driver. Any time I've had to use an uber clone apps (from a traditional taxi service, not lyft) they haven't instilled a lot of confidence in me to how reliable they are.

darkmouth 10y ago
True. Escaping the law, sexual harassment of employees and low wage to drivers aside, it will still make me feel very inconvenienced to see Uber go out of business. Not even Lyft comes close to how good and fast the Uber app is. I was sold the first time I used it. I just hope some other company steps in to fill in the void.
crispyambulance 10y ago
Although I admit the UX of Curb is not as seamless/slick as Uber's, it is certainly usable enough and given time the kinks will be worked out. IMHO it was a small price to pay for deleting my Uber account.
- erroneousfunk 10y ago
  Do you think cab drivers have gotten better since Uber came out? I only take them from the airport occasionally now, but the biggest thing about pre-Uber taxis was the service issues.
  - gtirloni 10y ago
    As I've learned while participating in these discussions is that all of this is HIGHLY localized. The issues you have with taxis and/or Uber will not make sense in other places with different regulations, better apps, etc. Almost every regular/licensed taxi I take here, the driver has Uber/Lyft/99Taxi app running simultaneously so they can reach more clients. In that case, it's the same quality of service as before (which is just fine where I live, so Uber/Lyft aren't disrupting anything here).

galdosdi 10y ago

I honestly never had a problem with the UI of 1) Dial a 10 digit number 2) Someone says "Hello, XYZ car service" 3) You say "I need a car at the corner of Sample street and 123rd road" 4) They say "5 minutes" and hang up It takes the same or less time as using an app like Uber with fewer things that can go wrong.

crispyambulance 10y ago
Yeah, but you have to guess at which cab company to call and then dig up the number. With the Curb app, your request goes out to multiple cab companies and you usually get a cab that is very close.
mcgrath_sh 10y ago
That was effective in cities with good (or any) taxi service. In Pittsburgh, Uber and Lyft have utterly changed people's ability to get around the city. One Saturday night we wanted to go out to a place 10 minutes away. We called a taxi cab around 7:30/8:00. We were told that it would be between 2.5 and 3 hours for a cab, if one came. We were considered "out of the way" when we were a 10 minute ride from downtown/the main bar area in the city. Forget about getting a cab back from those bars. We used jitney cabs all the time to get home. Yellow cabs wouldn't bother or were too infrequent.
- crispyambulance 10y ago
  I remember jitney's in Pgh !! In the 70's I used to ride in jitney cars with my mother to get back from the grocery store. In some cities, "jitneys" are called "hacks"-- unlicensed cab drivers driving their own cars. Perfectly safe if they're neighborhood folks that you know. There used to be a similar/related practice called "slugging" as well, it seems to have faded as Uber rose up.
- galdosdi 10y ago
  Great point -- ridesharing apps have genuinely contributed something important in areas that didn't use to have much taxi service. My point is limited specifically to big cities that already had decent service -- in those places, there wasn't a significant improvement brought by Uber and friends.