5 ms·

I don't know anyone who would choose a taxi over lyft or uber even if it was cheaper. Taxis are terrible.

stephenr 8y ago
I don't use taxis a lot. I have had a car and a licence basically since I was 17, but when I have had to use them, they've mostly been fine. Mostly to or from an airport/hotel. One nearly killed me, but I don't judge all other drivers by his lack of sleep/attention/whatever prescription drugs he relies on to stay awake. My issue with uber/etc is that they spend more money, campaigning against laws that would require background checks for their drivers, than it would cost for them to actually do the background checks. If that doesn't raise some questions for you, you may as well just look for vans with "free candy" spray painted on the side, I'm sure they'll be great. "Taxis are terrible" is such a vague blanket statement its almost meaningless.
- nitrogen 8y ago
  Uber/Lyft are great for getting between two points in an overcrowded city where you would neither be able to park your own car nor hail a taxi. Taxis are terrible because of the lack of convenience and lack of a rider rating system.
  - rescbr 8y ago
    And then you have apps (at least outside the US) for hailing taxis with the same UX for Uber. In some countries the Uber app hails taxis too.
  - stephenr 8y ago
    > Uber/Lyft are great for getting between two points in an overcrowded city where you would neither be able to park your own car nor hail a taxi I've literally never "hailed" a taxi in my life - I've either gotten in one at a rank (i.e. at an airport) or called for one in advance (i.e. at a hotel). Even as someone who uses taxis very rarely, I'm well aware of taxi booking apps both here in Thailand and in Australia. Your argument is essentially "American taxis are crap, therefore uber is good for breaking the law". Why exactly couldn't Uber have just operated as a better taxi company? Oh right. Because then they'd have to follow the laws, and pay the drivers an actual income.
    - striking 8y ago
      I believe you're missing a few things, considering taxi medallions are basically impossible to come by, and that what taxi driving laws here in the US allow are not incredibly unlike what Uber does to its drivers.
      - stephenr 8y ago
        > I believe you're missing a few things, considering taxi medallions are basically impossible to come by You mean none of the existing holders will sell them? $22B. Twenty two billion fucking dollars. That's how much VC money has been pumped into this bullshit company. And you're saying they can't buy some taxi medallions?
        SpelingBeeChamp 8y ago
        I think the answer is yes. (Or more accurately, not enough to be competitive.)
        the_clarence 8y ago
        Why would they? Medallions are a MLM
        dang 8y ago
        Can you please not post acerbic rants to HN?
    - WildGreenLeave 8y ago
      The main reason for me to use Grab while on holiday in Thailand was the fact that not getting scammed by a taxi driver in Thailand was almost impossible for me. I'm not sure if this is an issue for everyone, but I dare to say that as much as 50% of all taxi drivers in Bangkok just drove away the moment we asked for 'on the meter'. And this is saying something because we have used taxis at least twice a day for 2 weeks. The second reason was that not 1 of the non-Grab taxi drivers uses anything like Google Maps. So I was never sure if we actually ended up at our hotel or somewhere else. Also because our hotel (Aetas) had (at least) 2 locations in Bangkok it made it all worse. This is assuming that a taxi driver actually knows where to go, we've also encountered multiple times the situation where a taxi driver didn't know where to go. Grab on the other hand always provided the amount upfront and every driver had Google Maps for navigation. Edit: I'd rather use the official taxis, but the number of conveniences Grab added with a single app was worth it to me.
jonnycomputer 8y ago
taxis aren't terrible. the distribution of medallions in most cities is the problem.
- the_clarence 8y ago
  Taxis are terrible.

I don't use taxis a lot. I have had a car and a licence basically since I was 17, but when I have had to use them, they've mostly been fine. Mostly to or from an airport/hotel. One nearly killed me, but I don't judge all other drivers by his lack of sleep/attention/whatever prescription drugs he relies on to stay awake. My issue with uber/etc is that they spend more money, campaigning against laws that would require background checks for their drivers, than it would cost for them to actually do the background checks. If that doesn't raise some questions for you, you may as well just look for vans with "free candy" spray painted on the side, I'm sure they'll be great. "Taxis are terrible" is such a vague blanket statement its almost meaningless.

nitrogen 8y ago
Uber/Lyft are great for getting between two points in an overcrowded city where you would neither be able to park your own car nor hail a taxi. Taxis are terrible because of the lack of convenience and lack of a rider rating system.
- rescbr 8y ago
  And then you have apps (at least outside the US) for hailing taxis with the same UX for Uber. In some countries the Uber app hails taxis too.
- stephenr 8y ago
  > Uber/Lyft are great for getting between two points in an overcrowded city where you would neither be able to park your own car nor hail a taxi I've literally never "hailed" a taxi in my life - I've either gotten in one at a rank (i.e. at an airport) or called for one in advance (i.e. at a hotel). Even as someone who uses taxis very rarely, I'm well aware of taxi booking apps both here in Thailand and in Australia. Your argument is essentially "American taxis are crap, therefore uber is good for breaking the law". Why exactly couldn't Uber have just operated as a better taxi company? Oh right. Because then they'd have to follow the laws, and pay the drivers an actual income.
  - striking 8y ago
    I believe you're missing a few things, considering taxi medallions are basically impossible to come by, and that what taxi driving laws here in the US allow are not incredibly unlike what Uber does to its drivers.
    - stephenr 8y ago
      > I believe you're missing a few things, considering taxi medallions are basically impossible to come by You mean none of the existing holders will sell them? $22B. Twenty two billion fucking dollars. That's how much VC money has been pumped into this bullshit company. And you're saying they can't buy some taxi medallions?
      - SpelingBeeChamp 8y ago
        I think the answer is yes. (Or more accurately, not enough to be competitive.)
      - the_clarence 8y ago
        Why would they? Medallions are a MLM
      - dang 8y ago
        Can you please not post acerbic rants to HN?
  - WildGreenLeave 8y ago
    The main reason for me to use Grab while on holiday in Thailand was the fact that not getting scammed by a taxi driver in Thailand was almost impossible for me. I'm not sure if this is an issue for everyone, but I dare to say that as much as 50% of all taxi drivers in Bangkok just drove away the moment we asked for 'on the meter'. And this is saying something because we have used taxis at least twice a day for 2 weeks. The second reason was that not 1 of the non-Grab taxi drivers uses anything like Google Maps. So I was never sure if we actually ended up at our hotel or somewhere else. Also because our hotel (Aetas) had (at least) 2 locations in Bangkok it made it all worse. This is assuming that a taxi driver actually knows where to go, we've also encountered multiple times the situation where a taxi driver didn't know where to go. Grab on the other hand always provided the amount upfront and every driver had Google Maps for navigation. Edit: I'd rather use the official taxis, but the number of conveniences Grab added with a single app was worth it to me.

jonnycomputer 8y ago

taxis aren't terrible. the distribution of medallions in most cities is the problem.

the_clarence 8y ago
Taxis are terrible.