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What is amazing with black cabs in London is their ability to find ways other than the normal one to get you where you need to be. This comes with experience fr

What is amazing with black cabs in London is their ability to find ways other than the normal one to get you where you need to be. This comes with experience from times where Google Maps wasn't so ubiquitous, and that insane Knowledge test. However, everything else I dislike with black cabs. I mostly use Uber and when the main route is problematic, the driver focuses on his phone more than on the road, and that's alright. At least they are polite and don't try to rip me off like too many black cabs tried to.

FDSGSG 6y ago
Uber Lux drivers tend to be professional drivers working for luxury chauffeur companies and as such are vastly better than the regular Uber drivers, the prices are still competitive with black cabs (for up to 3 pax)
- topicseed 6y ago
  Can I play my music/radio via Bluetooth?
  - FDSGSG 6y ago
    Of course you can.
szundi 6y ago
I was there only one. I called an Uber. The guy went all directions, after like 15 minutes he pressed cancel. Cool, called an other one. It just went into the complete opposite direction, after 5 mins / 1-2 kms watching this I pressed cancel. Called a black cab, guy picks me up alright, then just joined some heavy traffic. I used Waze (that he never ever heard about) and told him which routes to take and did not miss my train to the airport by like 2 minutes. I am pretty sure every other Uber and black cab driver is much more experienced.
tweetle_beetle 6y ago
Out of curiosity, how have black cab drivers tried to rip you off? There's no room for maneuver in the fixed fare structure [1], which is designed to incentivise taking more low distance fares. If anything, the traditional trope was that they were "generous" - if you asked for a receipt, they would give you a wedge of empty receipts for you to fill in yourself for tax claims. [1] https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/taxi-fares?intcmp=4223 https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/taxi-fares?intcm...
- topicseed 6y ago
  In my years of using black cabs, there were no common fixed fares used, they ran on a meter. Fixed fares were mostly arranged and inflated by dealings with hotel concierges with cash exchanging hands before the guest went in their black cab. So, to answer your question clearly, they attempted to rip me and my visiting relatives off multiple times by hearing a strong accent, and starting taking obviously non optimum routes until they are told to take the exact road I know that is in fact much shorter, and much faster. Several times.
  - tweetle_beetle 6y ago
    The fixed fare structure I linked runs on a meter - there is no interpretation possible. And the structure rewards drivers for taking a higher number of shorter journeys to avoid the situation you are describing. Paying a third party cash before a journey is arranged is not the typical use case for a black cab. In a traditional hotel situation, the concierge would either wander out into the street to hail a taxi for you that you pay for yourself (black cab), or act as a booking agent for a taxi (mini cab). It sounds like your family was being ripped off in the second scenario, and possibly tricked into thinking they were taking a black cab.

FDSGSG 6y ago

Uber Lux drivers tend to be professional drivers working for luxury chauffeur companies and as such are vastly better than the regular Uber drivers, the prices are still competitive with black cabs (for up to 3 pax)

topicseed 6y ago
Can I play my music/radio via Bluetooth?
- FDSGSG 6y ago
  Of course you can.

szundi 6y ago

I was there only one. I called an Uber. The guy went all directions, after like 15 minutes he pressed cancel. Cool, called an other one. It just went into the complete opposite direction, after 5 mins / 1-2 kms watching this I pressed cancel. Called a black cab, guy picks me up alright, then just joined some heavy traffic. I used Waze (that he never ever heard about) and told him which routes to take and did not miss my train to the airport by like 2 minutes. I am pretty sure every other Uber and black cab driver is much more experienced.

tweetle_beetle 6y ago

Out of curiosity, how have black cab drivers tried to rip you off? There's no room for maneuver in the fixed fare structure [1], which is designed to incentivise taking more low distance fares. If anything, the traditional trope was that they were "generous" - if you asked for a receipt, they would give you a wedge of empty receipts for you to fill in yourself for tax claims. [1] https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/taxi-fares?intcmp=4223 https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/taxi-fares?intcm...

topicseed 6y ago
In my years of using black cabs, there were no common fixed fares used, they ran on a meter. Fixed fares were mostly arranged and inflated by dealings with hotel concierges with cash exchanging hands before the guest went in their black cab. So, to answer your question clearly, they attempted to rip me and my visiting relatives off multiple times by hearing a strong accent, and starting taking obviously non optimum routes until they are told to take the exact road I know that is in fact much shorter, and much faster. Several times.
- tweetle_beetle 6y ago
  The fixed fare structure I linked runs on a meter - there is no interpretation possible. And the structure rewards drivers for taking a higher number of shorter journeys to avoid the situation you are describing. Paying a third party cash before a journey is arranged is not the typical use case for a black cab. In a traditional hotel situation, the concierge would either wander out into the street to hail a taxi for you that you pay for yourself (black cab), or act as a booking agent for a taxi (mini cab). It sounds like your family was being ripped off in the second scenario, and possibly tricked into thinking they were taking a black cab.