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Uber was also amazing for travelers. No need to worry about the taxi driver looping around the city to run up the meter just because you aren’t from there.

red-iron-pine 3y ago
Was that a function of Uber and ride sharing? Or just having a GPS-connected app that you can track? Plenty of cab companies are following suit w/ GPS systems.
- smsm42 3y ago
  It's not only tracking. It's convenience of ordering, and paying, and knowing in advance how much it's going to cost, etc. Sure, I've seen taxi apps doing that too but it always been hit or miss whether particular app works in particular city and has a good sized fleet there.
Shawnj2 3y ago
As is Uber is a vastly better product than current taxi services.
WorldMaker 3y ago
"Computer-dispatched" taxi companies existed before Uber. They had numbers you could call to verify that your route didn't go the wrong way and they'd have guarantees to refund you if they found the taxi driver had done something wrong. Uber didn't invent that.
- Gunnerhead 3y ago
  Hmm, never heard of them in my city but instead always had to deal with sketch taxis who credit card reader was “broken”.
  - WorldMaker 3y ago
    Yeah, as with nearly anything taxi-related it was definitely a city-by-city thing to find/evaluate. There was at least one big franchise you could count on to be "computer-dispatched" in several cities, in my experience, if you knew to look for it. Unfortunately, Uber disrupting the traditional taxi companies also has seemed to have disrupted that franchise and the situation actually seems worse today than before Uber existed from that perspective.
yencabulator 3y ago
I'd argue the real transformation of that was really phones with GPS maps. These days, the tourist is more likely to notice they're being scammed by long detours.
hintymad 3y ago
A good example: I arrived at Budapest's train station. I asked a taxi driver if he'd take me to my hotel. The driver asked me about the address, and said 35 euros. It sounded fishy, so I pulled out Bolt. It turned out it would cost me only 8 euros. From then on, I didn't bother to talk to any taxi driver. Just Bolt whenever I need a taxi.

red-iron-pine 3y ago

Was that a function of Uber and ride sharing? Or just having a GPS-connected app that you can track? Plenty of cab companies are following suit w/ GPS systems.

smsm42 3y ago
It's not only tracking. It's convenience of ordering, and paying, and knowing in advance how much it's going to cost, etc. Sure, I've seen taxi apps doing that too but it always been hit or miss whether particular app works in particular city and has a good sized fleet there.

Shawnj2 3y ago

As is Uber is a vastly better product than current taxi services.

WorldMaker 3y ago

"Computer-dispatched" taxi companies existed before Uber. They had numbers you could call to verify that your route didn't go the wrong way and they'd have guarantees to refund you if they found the taxi driver had done something wrong. Uber didn't invent that.

Gunnerhead 3y ago
Hmm, never heard of them in my city but instead always had to deal with sketch taxis who credit card reader was “broken”.
- WorldMaker 3y ago
  Yeah, as with nearly anything taxi-related it was definitely a city-by-city thing to find/evaluate. There was at least one big franchise you could count on to be "computer-dispatched" in several cities, in my experience, if you knew to look for it. Unfortunately, Uber disrupting the traditional taxi companies also has seemed to have disrupted that franchise and the situation actually seems worse today than before Uber existed from that perspective.

yencabulator 3y ago

I'd argue the real transformation of that was really phones with GPS maps. These days, the tourist is more likely to notice they're being scammed by long detours.

hintymad 3y ago

A good example: I arrived at Budapest's train station. I asked a taxi driver if he'd take me to my hotel. The driver asked me about the address, and said 35 euros. It sounded fishy, so I pulled out Bolt. It turned out it would cost me only 8 euros. From then on, I didn't bother to talk to any taxi driver. Just Bolt whenever I need a taxi.