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Those talking points are 100% true. Uber started in San Francisco. You could not get a cab on the weekend for any amount of $. You could not get a cab to come

Those talking points are 100% true. Uber started in San Francisco. You could not get a cab on the weekend for any amount of $. You could not get a cab to come to the "tough" neighborhoods. This is 100% fact. I once called 4x and was told one was coming - falsely (I did live in what was then a "bad" neighborhood). My roommate walked across the entire city. Uber started with licensed transit vehicles - now called uber black. It was only when other folks started doing private party cars that they copied that with UberX (oddly they briefly had some moves towards pushing for enforcement against the unlicensed folks but saw that customers didn't care). But the underlying issues - incredibly bad service (talking on phone, smoking, credit card machine "broken") and lack of availability - despite the industry being "regulated" were VERY real. That's what got them going. The other reality - they have FORCED the taxi industry to up their game. You can almost always now pay with credit cards in a taxi, you can call a taxi with an app, you can sometimes even review your taxi driver.

jjoonathan 7y ago
> I once called 4x and was told [a taxi] was coming - falsely Same deal in Pittsburgh, though I only called 2x on the first instance and 1x on the second. Then I stopped using taxis unless forced. > credit card machine "broken" This happened twice last week to me in SoCal and seems to happen about 50% of the time I use taxis.
- privateSFacct 7y ago
  I called maybe 20x before "getting" it - the taxi is coming was 100% a lie. They were very likely redlining where I lived. I paid happily for uber black when it came out - whatever people think of uber costs now - original uber was NOT cheaper than a taxi as I remember - BUT you could actually get it. But I might be wrong - for me, I just wanted to be able to get something so I could avoid owning a car (most of the time bus etc works but not always).
77544cec 7y ago
I'm more concerned by the divide in status companies like Uber incur among workers than the comfort of the taxi clients, which by the way is a transportation mode only a select few can afford to use frequently.
- 77544cec 7y ago
  No need to downvote, this is just a fact.

jjoonathan 7y ago

> I once called 4x and was told [a taxi] was coming - falsely Same deal in Pittsburgh, though I only called 2x on the first instance and 1x on the second. Then I stopped using taxis unless forced. > credit card machine "broken" This happened twice last week to me in SoCal and seems to happen about 50% of the time I use taxis.

privateSFacct 7y ago
I called maybe 20x before "getting" it - the taxi is coming was 100% a lie. They were very likely redlining where I lived. I paid happily for uber black when it came out - whatever people think of uber costs now - original uber was NOT cheaper than a taxi as I remember - BUT you could actually get it. But I might be wrong - for me, I just wanted to be able to get something so I could avoid owning a car (most of the time bus etc works but not always).

77544cec 7y ago

I'm more concerned by the divide in status companies like Uber incur among workers than the comfort of the taxi clients, which by the way is a transportation mode only a select few can afford to use frequently.

77544cec 7y ago
No need to downvote, this is just a fact.