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Literally nobody wants taxis in the US. When I first moved to NYC Uber wasn't really a thing so had to take cabs at times. Even in Manhattan it sucked in so ma
by cletus 5y ago
Literally nobody wants taxis in the US.
When I first moved to NYC Uber wasn't really a thing so had to take cabs at times. Even in Manhattan it sucked in so many ways. Examples include:
- The stupid in-car advertising you had to turn off
- Cab card readers seemed to be a common method of skimming
- Getting a cab around shift changes
- Tricks to get a cab to go to somewhere they didn't want to go (ie anywhere that isn't Manhattan below 96th).
- Language barrier. The number of times I've had 14th mistaken for 40th was unbelievable.
- Just the general friction of the interaction and payment.
- Cab cleanliness.
- Inability to call for a cab or schedule one. I came from Australia and was honestly perplexed by this at first.
Years ago I took a few cabs in SF and used to joke with people that the interaction went something like:
"Take me to the end of the street"
"That'll be $30"
I once caught a cab from SFO to Mountain View, which is outside their normal range so there was a 50% surcharge. The guy made many mistakes in just getting off 101 onto 85. Missing exits, going around, that sort of thing. I had to give directions from my phone. The thing turned into $130 since he was running the meter the whole time. I ended up giving him no tip for this on principle even though it was being expensed and he yelled at me. As a cab drive if you can't handle "101 South to 85 South to El Camino North" then you have a problem.
I'm still skeptical about surge pricing in general. I'm not convinced it has much if anything to do with demand vs supply or that drivers see any of it.
But a more interesting story might be how surge pricing has changed in SF over time. For example: does it occur more often? Why? Are less drivers driving? Why?
Recently I tried to use Uber Eats in Miami and it was literally impossible. Why? "No drivers available". Basically no one drove for Uber Eats. They all drove for DoorDash, Seamless/Grubhub or Postmates instead.