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My experience with Uber/Taxi in Sweden. Got out of ferry, need to go to the airport, 40 minutes drive. There are a lot of taxies at the ferry terminal, sure, I

My experience with Uber/Taxi in Sweden. Got out of ferry, need to go to the airport, 40 minutes drive. There are a lot of taxies at the ferry terminal, sure, I talked to them, asked how much is to Airport, they all replied "by meter". Well I know you can set any rate to your meter. And all of them drove that route a lot of times, nobody gave me an estimate. So I have ordered Uber. Uber driver asked me how much Uber is going to charge me, and offered that he would cancel the ride, and I will pay him directly. I declined, just because I want to support Uber. I understand, that maybe some rides are not as beneficial as others, but give me a reasonable estimate, and I will agree to it. But this behavior of taxi drivers that would rather do one drive in 2 hours instead of 2 rides, and they make approximately the same amount of money - that is what created Uber/Lyft. Passengers frustration with the taxis. And I had bad experiences with Uber/Lyft and with Taxi. Cars can be filthy. But what I need: easy way to order a car, know exactly how much I am going to pay (estimate is fine with adjustment to changing traffic/time), what I don't want - not knowing if they will decide to charge me between 50-300 EUR/USD. That is not an estimate.

amarcheschi 2y ago
In italy taxis are one of the most important lobbiy, along with industrial groups and beach license owners. I'm not joking
lxgr 2y ago
> Well I know you can set any rate to your meter. Do you mean meter manipulation? I think that's pretty hard at least in the places I've taken taxis in. What's much more common for taxis (and much harder to prove) is taking a circuitous/slower route on purpose. >But what I need: easy way to order a car, know exactly how much I am going to pay Same for me, and Uber has been hit and miss on both lately. I've both had drivers cancel on me (or even ask me to cancel so they don't take the Whuffie hit) because they don't want to go to some place, and drivers taking detours for which Uber would later charge me (as "unexpected extra time").
- outcoldman 2y ago
  Somebody replied about the Italy. My experience was exactly that, in Italy. After I sat in the taxi I saw them manually entering the rate. Hotel told me one approximate price, but it ended up way higher. They saw a tourist, they used opportunity.
- jsnell 2y ago
  Sweden, where the OP said this happened, has a deregulated taxi industry. Taxis are free to set the meter rate however they wish. They do need to inform the client about the rate, but tourists can't really judge whether the quoted price is fair or not.
daghamm 2y ago
"I declined, just because I want to support Uber." Why? They are not providing anything real service in this case. As with any gig work, the payout drops down to horrible levels once the company is established and has no real competitors. This may explain why some drivers now want to avoid Uber for longer rides.
- d1sxeyes 2y ago
  Huh? Uber are providing an estimate that taxi drivers won’t. Kind of the whole point of the comment.
  - daghamm 2y ago
    But one driver said he will match Ubers price? Isn't that a kind of estimate?
    - outcoldman 2y ago
      Just to confirm, that was an Uber driver, that I was able to get only because I used an Uber app.
- outcoldman 2y ago
  Because if we will agree with drivers, in that case Uber is not going to have profit, and Uber will be gone from that city/country. And we will be back to the taxi world.
  - cute_boi 2y ago
    In addition to this, if there is any issue like accidents getting Uber support is way easy.
- bionicthrowaway 2y ago
  > They are not providing anything real service in this case. They connected the driver to the passenger, and negotiated an acceptable rate between both. They build and maintain the infrastructure necessary to make this happen quickly and reliably at global scale. If that’s not a valuable service, drivers and passengers wouldn’t rely on it. But they do. It seems you want to use the service, and just don’t want to pay for it.

amarcheschi 2y ago

In italy taxis are one of the most important lobbiy, along with industrial groups and beach license owners. I'm not joking

lxgr 2y ago

> Well I know you can set any rate to your meter. Do you mean meter manipulation? I think that's pretty hard at least in the places I've taken taxis in. What's much more common for taxis (and much harder to prove) is taking a circuitous/slower route on purpose. >But what I need: easy way to order a car, know exactly how much I am going to pay Same for me, and Uber has been hit and miss on both lately. I've both had drivers cancel on me (or even ask me to cancel so they don't take the Whuffie hit) because they don't want to go to some place, and drivers taking detours for which Uber would later charge me (as "unexpected extra time").

outcoldman 2y ago
Somebody replied about the Italy. My experience was exactly that, in Italy. After I sat in the taxi I saw them manually entering the rate. Hotel told me one approximate price, but it ended up way higher. They saw a tourist, they used opportunity.
jsnell 2y ago
Sweden, where the OP said this happened, has a deregulated taxi industry. Taxis are free to set the meter rate however they wish. They do need to inform the client about the rate, but tourists can't really judge whether the quoted price is fair or not.

daghamm 2y ago

"I declined, just because I want to support Uber." Why? They are not providing anything real service in this case. As with any gig work, the payout drops down to horrible levels once the company is established and has no real competitors. This may explain why some drivers now want to avoid Uber for longer rides.

d1sxeyes 2y ago
Huh? Uber are providing an estimate that taxi drivers won’t. Kind of the whole point of the comment.
- daghamm 2y ago
  But one driver said he will match Ubers price? Isn't that a kind of estimate?
  - outcoldman 2y ago
    Just to confirm, that was an Uber driver, that I was able to get only because I used an Uber app.
outcoldman 2y ago
Because if we will agree with drivers, in that case Uber is not going to have profit, and Uber will be gone from that city/country. And we will be back to the taxi world.
- cute_boi 2y ago
  In addition to this, if there is any issue like accidents getting Uber support is way easy.
bionicthrowaway 2y ago
> They are not providing anything real service in this case. They connected the driver to the passenger, and negotiated an acceptable rate between both. They build and maintain the infrastructure necessary to make this happen quickly and reliably at global scale. If that’s not a valuable service, drivers and passengers wouldn’t rely on it. But they do. It seems you want to use the service, and just don’t want to pay for it.