4 ms·
The thing with legal taxis is that the quality of their service is complete shit. At least in some countries. You dont know how much you will pay (their estima
by rvba 5y ago
The thing with legal taxis is that the quality of their service is complete shit. At least in some countries.
You dont know how much you will pay (their estimates are always too low) and the first questions by the driver are to check if you know the town. If you dont sound like a local, then they will drive you through the longest route possible. And worst: you can do nothing about it. No way to report the licensed driver. Before uber it was like a license to steal.
In uber you can give 1 star - so the cheaters dont get any customers + you have some idea of price and route.
- Aerroon 5y agoAnd because taxis are so heavily regulated it wasn't possible to compete with those bad taxis either. Regulation can cement an oligopoly.
- bellyfullofbac 5y agoI wonder if we can make Yelp for taxis. Open the app, scan the plate, check the reviews, if they're bad, go to the next taxi. But I guess dodgy taxi drivers would just buy new license plate (e.g. for their "own" private cars) and swap them - ok in a lot of jurisdictions taxi plates look different to normal car plates. Or the taxi driver can be made aware of the bad reviews and they'd have to do a deal with the app user, e.g. a fixed price with a 20% discount, for a fair review. (Rough idea, there are probably bigger issues when you're dealing with crooked drivers).
- jfrunyon 5y agoI know it's normal for taxi drivers here to own their taxi, and therefore be the only one who drives it - I wonder how common that is throughout the rest of the world? Are there places where different drivers might drive the same cab in shifts?
- pverghese 5y agoIt's not even normal in the US for medallioned taxis. 50% of the medallions are owned by one man and leased out to others who can loan the car out to others as well.
- jfrunyon 5y agoThe medallions are owned (and leased), not the taxis. Furthermore, medallions only exist in a few cities. And I'm very curious about your "50%" number. 50% of the medallions in NYC? 50% of the medallions in the country? Dubious either way.
- ratww 5y agoIn some countries there are some private apps for Taxis that work just like Uber. I know of some stories of drivers who were banned after dodgy behaviour, or cancellations.
- nradov 5y agoIn locations that have taxi stands like airports and large hotels, passengers are required to take the next taxi in line. You can't pick and choose.