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Uber won by offering services that people wanted and that existing taxi oligopolies were not providing: reliable pickups, not complaining about your destination

Uber won by offering services that people wanted and that existing taxi oligopolies were not providing: reliable pickups, not complaining about your destination, and not having "broken" credit card readers.

Y-bar 1y ago
Is it because I use taxis in Europe that I have never experienced any of those when riding a taxi? Here they all are required by law to have their cost stayed up front, printed on a sticker in the window. Most of them have had apps for booking, with geolocation, ETA, and mobile payments for >10 years now. Never had a single refusal, or complaint, or incorrect drop-off. Even in places which are lower class run-down areas. They have always sent a wheelchair-compatible car when requested.
- Den_VR 1y ago
  My experience with taxi in Italy (Napoli) was getting scammed by the driver and nearly missing my flight as he wanted to demand double fare because he had no guaranteed pickup from the Airport.
- cbdumas 1y ago
  My taxi driver on my last time in France (in 2022 I believe) almost made us miss our train from Marseilles to Paris as he drove us around looking for an ATM because he insisted he "left his credit card reader at home". I do not miss taxis and their scummy drivers one bit.
- slavik81 1y ago
  My very first experience in Germany back in 2019 was being driven from the train station to my hotel by a taxi that never turned their meter on. They just told me it was 20 EUR when they dropped me off.
TeMPOraL 1y ago
It's easy to offer a better service when you're cheating. And when a cheater wins, the service invariably gets much worse very quickly. Uber was able to offer "reliable pickups, not complaining about your destination, and not having 'broken' credit card readers" for a competitive price by a combination of: - Not servicing people with mobility issues - Not servicing unprofitable areas in the city - Subsidizing fares with their ~infinite VC money supply to a degree that didn't even pretend to be sustainable - Offering unsustainably favorable conditions to drivers to create the initial impression of premium, high-quality service - Blatantly breaking the local laws, and using their ~infinite VC money supply to avoid law enforcement and tie up any cases against them The last three points being a plain and obvious bait&switch. The business was based on hoping they'll destroy local transportation businesses and gain reputation with people to make regulators face public backlash faster than they run out of money. Market by market, they succeeded to a greater or lesser degree, and then perfectly predictably, they behaved like the paragons of honesty and virtue they always were: the drivers got shafted, service went to shit, and all good it did was to replace local businesses with multinational franchise of shit pseudo-taxi. A McDonald'ification of the taxi market, if you like, except McDonald's doesn't suck as much.
RHSeeger 1y ago
Uber won by ignoring laws that were put in place, and then crying to the public whenever they got in trouble for it.
autoexec 1y ago
I've still seen Uber drivers complain about a destination taking them out of the busier areas where they'd get more work. In some places Uber really did improve the wait for a taxi though, and taxis never cared about offering the little extras as far as phone chargers and bottled water.

Y-bar 1y ago

Is it because I use taxis in Europe that I have never experienced any of those when riding a taxi? Here they all are required by law to have their cost stayed up front, printed on a sticker in the window. Most of them have had apps for booking, with geolocation, ETA, and mobile payments for >10 years now. Never had a single refusal, or complaint, or incorrect drop-off. Even in places which are lower class run-down areas. They have always sent a wheelchair-compatible car when requested.

Den_VR 1y ago
My experience with taxi in Italy (Napoli) was getting scammed by the driver and nearly missing my flight as he wanted to demand double fare because he had no guaranteed pickup from the Airport.
cbdumas 1y ago
My taxi driver on my last time in France (in 2022 I believe) almost made us miss our train from Marseilles to Paris as he drove us around looking for an ATM because he insisted he "left his credit card reader at home". I do not miss taxis and their scummy drivers one bit.
slavik81 1y ago
My very first experience in Germany back in 2019 was being driven from the train station to my hotel by a taxi that never turned their meter on. They just told me it was 20 EUR when they dropped me off.

TeMPOraL 1y ago

It's easy to offer a better service when you're cheating. And when a cheater wins, the service invariably gets much worse very quickly. Uber was able to offer "reliable pickups, not complaining about your destination, and not having 'broken' credit card readers" for a competitive price by a combination of: - Not servicing people with mobility issues - Not servicing unprofitable areas in the city - Subsidizing fares with their ~infinite VC money supply to a degree that didn't even pretend to be sustainable - Offering unsustainably favorable conditions to drivers to create the initial impression of premium, high-quality service - Blatantly breaking the local laws, and using their ~infinite VC money supply to avoid law enforcement and tie up any cases against them The last three points being a plain and obvious bait&switch. The business was based on hoping they'll destroy local transportation businesses and gain reputation with people to make regulators face public backlash faster than they run out of money. Market by market, they succeeded to a greater or lesser degree, and then perfectly predictably, they behaved like the paragons of honesty and virtue they always were: the drivers got shafted, service went to shit, and all good it did was to replace local businesses with multinational franchise of shit pseudo-taxi. A McDonald'ification of the taxi market, if you like, except McDonald's doesn't suck as much.

RHSeeger 1y ago

Uber won by ignoring laws that were put in place, and then crying to the public whenever they got in trouble for it.

autoexec 1y ago

I've still seen Uber drivers complain about a destination taking them out of the busier areas where they'd get more work. In some places Uber really did improve the wait for a taxi though, and taxis never cared about offering the little extras as far as phone chargers and bottled water.