4 ms·

"Less convenient"? How about "doesn't show up"? Or "busy signal all night"?

• ZeroGravitas 5y ago
  I think this explains why I felt odd reading the article. I guess there were some locations, I'm thinking rural but also just places with dysfunctional taxi regulations, where it was simply the norm to drive drunk before uber arrived. This is maybe a couple of decades longer than it was in places with decent taxi systems. So if you live in one of those areas, then you'd associate ride-sharing with this phenomenon, but if you didn't you'd have considered this as 'normal' a while ago and not see much difference when taxi's got apps. You see the same phenomenon in reverse, where people talk about ride-sharing as a positive revolution in their lives, and they're just talking about a taxi system that works, which is their experience, but isn't universal.
  • kortilla 5y ago
    > I guess there were some locations, The vast majority of the US. The Bay Area in all of the South Bay was like this. All of Seattle except for downtown proper was like this. Basically all of Denver. All of the DC suburbs.
  • ElevenLathe 5y ago
    It's still normal in a fair number of midsized cities. Try getting a taxi or rideshare in Flint, Michigan. The taxi will quote you a two hour wait but never show up. Uber/Lyft will show no drivers anywhere closer than Detroit. Even if one takes your fare, they will ultimately cancel it because it makes no sense for them to do. A night out in a city like this means either a designated driver or drunk driving. There are no alternatives.
• Sebguer 5y ago
  The sole cab company in the city I grew up in (population ~100k, so not tiny) would explicitly refuse to pick people up from bars, so yeah.