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A few years ago it seemed everyone in London used Uber the whole time to get around. It was pretty cheap and convenient. Nowadays very few people I know seem t

by harg 3y ago

A few years ago it seemed everyone in London used Uber the whole time to get around. It was pretty cheap and convenient. Nowadays very few people I know seem to use Uber (and the equivalents) on even an occasional basis. It's a lot more expensive than it used to be and you just can't rely on it any more. I tried to get one last month for the first time in ages (from a not particularly out-of-way location) and no driver was around to accept my booking. It took over an hour of trying and I eventually managed to get a Bolt. It was a painful experience. In a way it's a good thing - I don't think it's sustainable to have everyone be driven around in private. vehicles in European cities, especially when there's often very good public transit available. There was a point when Uber usage was simply a lazy habit for people. Although I accept that for some people and situations it is the best option (disabled, lots of luggage etc)

t0mas88 3y ago
I had the same experience. It used to be quite convenient, but not anymore. A few weeks ago I tried to get from Shoreditch to Canary Wharf during a normal workday. Used both Bolt and Uber, took half an hour to get a car while both promised pickup within 3 minutes...
- curiousgal 3y ago
  Overground to Whitechapel and then Elizabeth Line. I gave up on Uber in London.
evgen 3y ago
I was never a huge Uber fan but would use them occasionally, especially when I needed to take a trip that did not start or end in zone 1. These days? I ended up nuking the app from my phone because the service had become useless. Back to black cabs (and tube/bus) for me.
a2tech 3y ago
Last time I was in London I had the worst time with Uber--I could always get a car, but they could never find me then they'd call me and it was always a mess trying to find one another. I eventually just switched to using the black cabs and that worked a lot better
janejeon 3y ago
Every time I catch an Uber in London, the drivers for some reason always end up massive racists.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - mikestew 3y ago
    Though usually said as a joke, I’m serious when I say parent comment should be an example in the dictionary under “victim blaming”.
    - robertlagrant 3y ago
      Victim? The joke was that they persuaded them to be racists.
      - pessimizer 3y ago
        It was funny, but it took me a second. edit: you should leave it alone, though. People only move from mad because they misunderstood the joke to even madder for you not making the joke easier to get. They won't relax if you keep digging.
      - janejeon 3y ago
        > they persuaded them to be racists Once again, please stop insinuating things that are a. untrue and b. you cannot possibly verify (were you in the uber rides with me?) just because of your preconceived notions and biases that you'd like to be true.
        milkshakes 3y ago
        the joke is about the "end up" part of your original post. as in, they were not racists until you talked to them. it's just a joke...
robertlagrant 3y ago
> In a way it's a good thing - I don't think it's sustainable to have everyone be driven around in private I know people who haven't bought a car because they just use Uber. It was an incredible advancement, but all these services will regress to the mean. In London, TfL, their regulator and competitor, is definitely not a fan, which must be expensive, and having to provide essentially full time jobs to their drivers (who signed up with no such guarantees) is always going to raise internal expenses through the roof. The person who suffers is the customer, who has to look elsewhere. The one positive is that at least Uber has forced local competition to join the 21st century with app payments, driver photos, location tracking, app payments, etc.
- SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
  I would argue it’s not regression, that it’s normalization. ZIRP is on pause and things need to be profitable right now, I don’t see this as a bad thing in any way. If the business model doesn’t work, it shouldn’t have money thrown at it.
- HWR_14 3y ago
  How is it to societies benefit if someone doesn't buy a car? It could be if someone drives less, but if they replace a car with a car driven by another person, it seems to be even worse.
  - diebeforei485 3y ago
    Having a car means you travel more. If enough people don't have cars, it strengthens local economies and smaller businesses instead of everyone driving to Walmart at the edge of town.
    - robertlagrant 3y ago
      I can imagine this working fine in a world of families where one person works and the other stays at home, as there's time to walk to the shops once a day for different things, to avoid carrying a week's worth of shopping by hand. In a world where both have to have full-time jobs, it's harder to see how this would work. And I grew up in a time where we still had a local butcher and baker (candlesticks were sadly out of fashion), and the way we did it was a) live really close to them, and b) not get everything for the week on the same shop.
benjaminwootton 3y ago
It just seemed to stop working in London post pandemic. I must have used it for 1000 rides before 2020. You would usually be picked up in less than 5 minutes around zone 1. When I started using it again in late 2021, it became almost impossible to get anyone to accept the order and then not cancel. It's strange how dramatically it seemed to crash and burn. From ubiquitous to basically useless.
- mhh__ 3y ago
  Seems fine now.

by harg 3y ago

t0mas88 3y ago

I had the same experience. It used to be quite convenient, but not anymore. A few weeks ago I tried to get from Shoreditch to Canary Wharf during a normal workday. Used both Bolt and Uber, took half an hour to get a car while both promised pickup within 3 minutes...

curiousgal 3y ago
Overground to Whitechapel and then Elizabeth Line. I gave up on Uber in London.

evgen 3y ago

I was never a huge Uber fan but would use them occasionally, especially when I needed to take a trip that did not start or end in zone 1. These days? I ended up nuking the app from my phone because the service had become useless. Back to black cabs (and tube/bus) for me.

a2tech 3y ago

Last time I was in London I had the worst time with Uber--I could always get a car, but they could never find me then they'd call me and it was always a mess trying to find one another. I eventually just switched to using the black cabs and that worked a lot better

janejeon 3y ago

Every time I catch an Uber in London, the drivers for some reason always end up massive racists.

robertlagrant 3y ago
[flagged]
- mikestew 3y ago
  Though usually said as a joke, I’m serious when I say parent comment should be an example in the dictionary under “victim blaming”.
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    Victim? The joke was that they persuaded them to be racists.
    - pessimizer 3y ago
      It was funny, but it took me a second. edit: you should leave it alone, though. People only move from mad because they misunderstood the joke to even madder for you not making the joke easier to get. They won't relax if you keep digging.
    - janejeon 3y ago
      > they persuaded them to be racists Once again, please stop insinuating things that are a. untrue and b. you cannot possibly verify (were you in the uber rides with me?) just because of your preconceived notions and biases that you'd like to be true.
      - milkshakes 3y ago
        the joke is about the "end up" part of your original post. as in, they were not racists until you talked to them. it's just a joke...

robertlagrant 3y ago

> In a way it's a good thing - I don't think it's sustainable to have everyone be driven around in private I know people who haven't bought a car because they just use Uber. It was an incredible advancement, but all these services will regress to the mean. In London, TfL, their regulator and competitor, is definitely not a fan, which must be expensive, and having to provide essentially full time jobs to their drivers (who signed up with no such guarantees) is always going to raise internal expenses through the roof. The person who suffers is the customer, who has to look elsewhere. The one positive is that at least Uber has forced local competition to join the 21st century with app payments, driver photos, location tracking, app payments, etc.

SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
I would argue it’s not regression, that it’s normalization. ZIRP is on pause and things need to be profitable right now, I don’t see this as a bad thing in any way. If the business model doesn’t work, it shouldn’t have money thrown at it.
HWR_14 3y ago
How is it to societies benefit if someone doesn't buy a car? It could be if someone drives less, but if they replace a car with a car driven by another person, it seems to be even worse.
- diebeforei485 3y ago
  Having a car means you travel more. If enough people don't have cars, it strengthens local economies and smaller businesses instead of everyone driving to Walmart at the edge of town.
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    I can imagine this working fine in a world of families where one person works and the other stays at home, as there's time to walk to the shops once a day for different things, to avoid carrying a week's worth of shopping by hand. In a world where both have to have full-time jobs, it's harder to see how this would work. And I grew up in a time where we still had a local butcher and baker (candlesticks were sadly out of fashion), and the way we did it was a) live really close to them, and b) not get everything for the week on the same shop.

benjaminwootton 3y ago

It just seemed to stop working in London post pandemic. I must have used it for 1000 rides before 2020. You would usually be picked up in less than 5 minutes around zone 1. When I started using it again in late 2021, it became almost impossible to get anyone to accept the order and then not cancel. It's strange how dramatically it seemed to crash and burn. From ubiquitous to basically useless.

mhh__ 3y ago
Seems fine now.