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I'm often an Uber critic, can't see how their valuation is justified, appalled by their lack of ethics, etc., however I think your analysis sells them short. H

by krrrh 9y ago

I'm often an Uber critic, can't see how their valuation is justified, appalled by their lack of ethics, etc., however I think your analysis sells them short. Hailing or waiting for a taxi was a horrible experience in most cities. Leveraging the smartphone platform's ability to track location in real time, along with its ability to be connected and handle payments created a better service. This did compete with existing Taxi monopolies (which had enormous costs associated with rent seeking in many jurisdictions, not just labour costs), but it also competed heavily with non-consumption, car ownership, and car rentals for those on trips. The pattern of social life has changed in many cities where the inconvenience, lack of reliability, and cost of using a taxi had previously constrained peoples' options, and forced reliance on owning a car, driving when they shouldn't, or staying closer to their neighbourhoods or going home early. It's true that most of what gets called Uber for X is just enabling casual labor, without significantly expanding the market, and that's why so few of them achieve anything close to an Uber-level of success.

always_good 9y ago
Or any time I've only had a 50 peso bill and a 200 peso bill, the ride will cost 100 pesos, and the taxi driver somehow doesn't have change. Or any time I've tried to hail a taxi among a bunch of other people (after an event or at 2am at the city center when all the bars close) and I'm stuck hoping I'm the lucky chosen one the next time a taxi comes, losing out each time to a group of people. Or any time a taxi driver took advantage of the fact that they knew my options were limited late at night. Uber solved major points of frustration with taxi services.
- monocasa 9y ago
  Or the time when my SO and some of her friends took a taxi from LAX, and when one of her friends noticed that the taxi was going a particularly circuitous route, the driver locked the doors while saying "I'll take you anywhere I damn well please". She won't use anything other than Uber/Lyft/etc. now since they have the GPS constantly running, and a record of who she gets in the car with.
mpweiher 9y ago
> taxi..horrible experience..smartphone..track location So I use a taxi app. Real time tracking, payment, etc. No Uber, no undercutting safety standards or labor laws.
- crooked-v 9y ago
  Most taxi services don't have apps, or have apps that are just the equivalent of phoning the dispatcher.
  - mpweiher 9y ago
    So the solution would be to add better apps, rather than skirting safety regulations and undermining workers' rights.
- krrrh 9y ago
  Yes, and in a city such as Berlin where the taxi supply is not artificially restricted through a mediallion system, and sensible safety and labour laws prevail to the extent that Uber is not even able to operate, an app like MyTaxi functions just about as well as "ride sharing" apps in my experience (though it trails in significant innovations such as UberPool / LyftLine).
fragmede 9y ago
Of course, after hailing and waiting, and then taking the ride, you had to pay for the taxi. And frequently the credit card machine was "broken" and you had to argue with the driver about not having any cash. In a time when many individuals have moved away from cash almost entirely, that was a huge source of friction, and Uber and Lyft largely solved with in-app credit card payments. Because you had to have the app to hail a ride, payment for individual rides after entering a card for the first one is frictionless for the user.
- bmm6o 9y ago
  This happened to me last month, in the US. We were in a popular tourist hotel, so I figured we would take a cab that's already here rather than trying to hook up with a Lyft driver. It was the worst! "Broken" credit card machine, charging extra for bags, etc. It's like instead of trying to compete with better service, the taxi driver wants to get his before the industry implodes.
barry-cotter 9y ago
Uber also made getting a ride while black a significantly easier experience. And their drivers will actually take you where you ask to go whereas regulations be damned if the taxi driver doesn't want to go there he won't.

by krrrh 9y ago

always_good 9y ago

Or any time I've only had a 50 peso bill and a 200 peso bill, the ride will cost 100 pesos, and the taxi driver somehow doesn't have change. Or any time I've tried to hail a taxi among a bunch of other people (after an event or at 2am at the city center when all the bars close) and I'm stuck hoping I'm the lucky chosen one the next time a taxi comes, losing out each time to a group of people. Or any time a taxi driver took advantage of the fact that they knew my options were limited late at night. Uber solved major points of frustration with taxi services.

monocasa 9y ago
Or the time when my SO and some of her friends took a taxi from LAX, and when one of her friends noticed that the taxi was going a particularly circuitous route, the driver locked the doors while saying "I'll take you anywhere I damn well please". She won't use anything other than Uber/Lyft/etc. now since they have the GPS constantly running, and a record of who she gets in the car with.

mpweiher 9y ago

> taxi..horrible experience..smartphone..track location So I use a taxi app. Real time tracking, payment, etc. No Uber, no undercutting safety standards or labor laws.

crooked-v 9y ago
Most taxi services don't have apps, or have apps that are just the equivalent of phoning the dispatcher.
- mpweiher 9y ago
  So the solution would be to add better apps, rather than skirting safety regulations and undermining workers' rights.
krrrh 9y ago
Yes, and in a city such as Berlin where the taxi supply is not artificially restricted through a mediallion system, and sensible safety and labour laws prevail to the extent that Uber is not even able to operate, an app like MyTaxi functions just about as well as "ride sharing" apps in my experience (though it trails in significant innovations such as UberPool / LyftLine).

fragmede 9y ago

Of course, after hailing and waiting, and then taking the ride, you had to pay for the taxi. And frequently the credit card machine was "broken" and you had to argue with the driver about not having any cash. In a time when many individuals have moved away from cash almost entirely, that was a huge source of friction, and Uber and Lyft largely solved with in-app credit card payments. Because you had to have the app to hail a ride, payment for individual rides after entering a card for the first one is frictionless for the user.

bmm6o 9y ago
This happened to me last month, in the US. We were in a popular tourist hotel, so I figured we would take a cab that's already here rather than trying to hook up with a Lyft driver. It was the worst! "Broken" credit card machine, charging extra for bags, etc. It's like instead of trying to compete with better service, the taxi driver wants to get his before the industry implodes.

barry-cotter 9y ago

Uber also made getting a ride while black a significantly easier experience. And their drivers will actually take you where you ask to go whereas regulations be damned if the taxi driver doesn't want to go there he won't.