5 ms·

i dont know that its such a great thing in the end. Uber/Lyft is 50-100% more expensive now than taxis were before. Theyre entrenched in different ways.

bnjms 1y ago
As far as I was aware taxis were an imagined thing we saw in movies. I understand you could call a number and ask for a ride to the airport though they were never useful.
- internetter 1y ago
  What?
  - bnjms 1y ago
    Taxis weren’t actually available in most US cities before ride share. Only the large dense cities really had them. This argument that things were better before is only relevant for a small handful of metros. The ride shares are better in spite of their flaws.
- starttoaster 1y ago
  They're always more common in metro areas of the US. You must be from a relatively rural area and don't get out of it much. That said, uh, the use of getting a taxi to drive you to or from the airport was just not having to park at the airport which generally costs a lot of money, and in certain areas is a little sketchy on whether or not your car will get cracked open while you're away.
  - sahila 1y ago
    That's a little reductive. I grew up in San Diego and went to school in LA and had the same experience with taxis - never took them. But now I use ubers in those cities whenever I'm there. The US has tons of cities like this that I imagine would have issues with taxis - all parts of the bay area peninsula / east bay, cities in Texas, Denver, etc. Most cities are not like the NYC/Boston and even in places in Chicago, unless you lived downtown likely didn't see taxis driving around.
tnel77 1y ago
How much of this is inflation?
- ab5tract 1y ago
  Gas is priced lower when counting for inflation, isn’t it?
  - jack_pp 1y ago
    But drivers got to eat
    - barrenko 1y ago
      who cares about the drivers....
      - rvnx 1y ago
        Especially because in 10 years from now they will progressively get replaced by AI like Waymo, so no point into making sure they are happy in the long-term
    - Ekaros 1y ago
      Why don't they just order it on food delivery. I heard that it massively cut margins on the greedy restaurants, so can't be inflation there...
  - JCharante 1y ago
    Gas is such a small part of the cost
jack_pp 1y ago
Idk how it is in the US but in eastern Europe that's only true if surge is on and even so considering how shitty the quality of service was before Uber it's fine.
- mantas 1y ago
  And it’s still shitty. Uber/Bolt is like on par with 90s taxis. At least here there was a short attempt to make things better in early 2010s with nicer cars and trying to force drivers to be nicer. But then it was „disrupted“.
  - Den_VR 1y ago
    The disruption worked in most cities I use uber in. It’s far more trustworthy to use uber.
  - kelnos 1y ago
    I far, far, far prefer Uber (or Lyft, in the US) wherever I am, over whatever local taxi service there is. Yes, the quality of cars varies a lot. Yes, you never know if you're going to get a quiet driver or a way-too-talkative one. But I know what I'm going to pay up-front, can always pay with a credit card (which happens automatically without annoying post-trip payment), the ride is fully tracked, and I can report issues with the driver that I have an expectation will actually be acted upon. And when I'm in another country where there are known to be taxis that scam foreigners, Uber is a godsend. Yes, pre-Uber taxis were expensive and crappy, and even if Uber is expensive now, it's not crappy; it's actually worth the price. And I'm not convinced Uber is even that expensive. We always forget to account for inflation... sure, we might today say, "that ride in a taxi used to cost $14, but in an Uber it costs $18". But that ride in a taxi was 15 years ago.
    - BLACKCRAB 1y ago
      [dead]
repeekad 1y ago
Did you remember to factor in well over 30% inflation in America in the past 5 years plus Uber Lyft initially losing money on rides to capture market share before they eventually had to actually breakeven?
- TeMPOraL 1y ago
  > plus Uber Lyft initially losing money on rides to capture market share before they eventually had to actually breakeven? That's typically considered to be somewhere between assholish and straight up illegal in most civilized economies.
  - ghiculescu 1y ago
    What law is it breaking?
    - Macha 1y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing#Legal_aspects_amongst_different_countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing#Legal_aspect...
      - ghiculescu 1y ago
        In all those countries what’s illegal is abuse of a monopoly, which is not what’s being discussed here. The parent cited Uber and Lyft when they first started. Nothing is illegal about startups undercutting established competitors.
        Macha 1y ago
        I can only speak in EU terms in any more detail here, but the EU laws are based on "dominant market position". Monopoly is one route to that but it's not the only route and there is no minimum market share required, as e.g. Qualcomm found out (https://www.cliffordchance.com/insights/resources/blogs/talking-tech/en/articles/2024/10/qualcomm-case--eu-general-court-confirms-ec-finding-of-predatory.html https://www.cliffordchance.com/insights/resources/blogs/talk...)
silisili 1y ago
Uber did a great job convincing lay people that taxis were ripoffs and they were a good deal. For some time that was probably true. Now, I see people at the airport walk over to the pickup lot, joining a crowd of others furiously messing with their phones while scanning the area for presumably their driver. All the while the taxis waiting immediately outside the exit door were $2 more expensive, last time I checked.
- CSMastermind 1y ago
  In NYC, Vegas, and a few other places I take taxis because they're dense and work well there. Uber was a godsend for everyone living outside of like 4 metro areas in the US.
- kelnos 1y ago
  I mean, that seems pretty unfair, no, giving one set of transportation companies an arbitrary advantage over another? This sort of thing is exactly why Uber started in the first place: because taxis had unfair monopolistic advantages for no particular reason, and gave customers a poor experience, because they knew they didn't have to do better to keep their jobs. I have no idea what I'm going to get with those taxis waiting immediately outside the exit door. Even in my home country, at the airport next to my city, I have no idea. I know exactly what I'm getting with an Uber/Lyft, every time. That's valuable to me. I was just in another country a couple months ago, and when trying to leave the airport, I was confused where I'd need to go in order to get an Uber. I foolishly gave up and went for one of those "conveniently-waiting" taxis, where I was quoted a price up-front, in my home currency, that I later (after doing the currency conversion on the Uber price) realized was a ripoff. The driver also aggressively tried to get me to instead rent his "friend's car" rather than take me to the rental car place like I asked. And honestly I consider that lucky: he didn't try to kidnap me or threaten me in any way, but I was tense during the whole ride, wondering if something bad was going to happen. That sort of thing isn't an anomaly; it happens all the time to tourists in many countries.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
    In the US, as well. I won't recount what recently happened to a friend in Milwaukee. It was an unpopular story (because the ripoff was Uber-based, and not the traditional taxi). There's bad actors in every industry. I have found that industries that get "entrenched," tend to breed the most bad actors. If anything turns into a "pseudo-monopoly," expect the grifters to start popping up. They'll figure out how to game the system.
chrischen 1y ago
That's probably due to general inflation...
Dumblydorr 1y ago
So are most things from 20 years ago. Inflation is acting as the majority of those increases I’d wager.
ses1984 1y ago
I strongly prefer to take traditional taxis, but I also comparison shop and Lyft is almost always 20-40% cheaper than a cab ride.
ahepp 1y ago
“Entrenched” because that’s how consumers prefer to spend their money?
jama211 1y ago
Where I live Ubers are WAY cheaper than taxis, even if you go back years and years.
anakaine 1y ago
Here in Australia theres a never ending steam of complaints about taxis managing to bill passengers extraordinary amounts. From taking a route that deliberately includes a highway leg thats expensive to correct (screws tourists), to demanding higher fares, to card skimming, to outright just not displaying the taxi licences so you cant complain and have no idea which driver was being creepy. Uber at least has fixed rates from what was displayed and there are logs of which driver was doing dodgy stuff.
krageon 1y ago
it's way cheaper here, it's more convenient and I won't get ignored due to how my voice sounds on the phone. It's just better

bnjms 1y ago

As far as I was aware taxis were an imagined thing we saw in movies. I understand you could call a number and ask for a ride to the airport though they were never useful.

internetter 1y ago
What?
- bnjms 1y ago
  Taxis weren’t actually available in most US cities before ride share. Only the large dense cities really had them. This argument that things were better before is only relevant for a small handful of metros. The ride shares are better in spite of their flaws.
starttoaster 1y ago
They're always more common in metro areas of the US. You must be from a relatively rural area and don't get out of it much. That said, uh, the use of getting a taxi to drive you to or from the airport was just not having to park at the airport which generally costs a lot of money, and in certain areas is a little sketchy on whether or not your car will get cracked open while you're away.
- sahila 1y ago
  That's a little reductive. I grew up in San Diego and went to school in LA and had the same experience with taxis - never took them. But now I use ubers in those cities whenever I'm there. The US has tons of cities like this that I imagine would have issues with taxis - all parts of the bay area peninsula / east bay, cities in Texas, Denver, etc. Most cities are not like the NYC/Boston and even in places in Chicago, unless you lived downtown likely didn't see taxis driving around.

tnel77 1y ago

How much of this is inflation?

ab5tract 1y ago
Gas is priced lower when counting for inflation, isn’t it?
- jack_pp 1y ago
  But drivers got to eat
  - barrenko 1y ago
    who cares about the drivers....
    - rvnx 1y ago
      Especially because in 10 years from now they will progressively get replaced by AI like Waymo, so no point into making sure they are happy in the long-term
  - Ekaros 1y ago
    Why don't they just order it on food delivery. I heard that it massively cut margins on the greedy restaurants, so can't be inflation there...
- JCharante 1y ago
  Gas is such a small part of the cost

jack_pp 1y ago

Idk how it is in the US but in eastern Europe that's only true if surge is on and even so considering how shitty the quality of service was before Uber it's fine.

mantas 1y ago
And it’s still shitty. Uber/Bolt is like on par with 90s taxis. At least here there was a short attempt to make things better in early 2010s with nicer cars and trying to force drivers to be nicer. But then it was „disrupted“.
- Den_VR 1y ago
  The disruption worked in most cities I use uber in. It’s far more trustworthy to use uber.
- kelnos 1y ago
  I far, far, far prefer Uber (or Lyft, in the US) wherever I am, over whatever local taxi service there is. Yes, the quality of cars varies a lot. Yes, you never know if you're going to get a quiet driver or a way-too-talkative one. But I know what I'm going to pay up-front, can always pay with a credit card (which happens automatically without annoying post-trip payment), the ride is fully tracked, and I can report issues with the driver that I have an expectation will actually be acted upon. And when I'm in another country where there are known to be taxis that scam foreigners, Uber is a godsend. Yes, pre-Uber taxis were expensive and crappy, and even if Uber is expensive now, it's not crappy; it's actually worth the price. And I'm not convinced Uber is even that expensive. We always forget to account for inflation... sure, we might today say, "that ride in a taxi used to cost $14, but in an Uber it costs $18". But that ride in a taxi was 15 years ago.
  - BLACKCRAB 1y ago
    [dead]

repeekad 1y ago

Did you remember to factor in well over 30% inflation in America in the past 5 years plus Uber Lyft initially losing money on rides to capture market share before they eventually had to actually breakeven?

TeMPOraL 1y ago
> plus Uber Lyft initially losing money on rides to capture market share before they eventually had to actually breakeven? That's typically considered to be somewhere between assholish and straight up illegal in most civilized economies.
- ghiculescu 1y ago
  What law is it breaking?
  - Macha 1y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing#Legal_aspects_amongst_different_countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing#Legal_aspect...
    - ghiculescu 1y ago
      In all those countries what’s illegal is abuse of a monopoly, which is not what’s being discussed here. The parent cited Uber and Lyft when they first started. Nothing is illegal about startups undercutting established competitors.
      - Macha 1y ago
        I can only speak in EU terms in any more detail here, but the EU laws are based on "dominant market position". Monopoly is one route to that but it's not the only route and there is no minimum market share required, as e.g. Qualcomm found out (https://www.cliffordchance.com/insights/resources/blogs/talking-tech/en/articles/2024/10/qualcomm-case--eu-general-court-confirms-ec-finding-of-predatory.html https://www.cliffordchance.com/insights/resources/blogs/talk...)

silisili 1y ago

Uber did a great job convincing lay people that taxis were ripoffs and they were a good deal. For some time that was probably true. Now, I see people at the airport walk over to the pickup lot, joining a crowd of others furiously messing with their phones while scanning the area for presumably their driver. All the while the taxis waiting immediately outside the exit door were $2 more expensive, last time I checked.

CSMastermind 1y ago
In NYC, Vegas, and a few other places I take taxis because they're dense and work well there. Uber was a godsend for everyone living outside of like 4 metro areas in the US.
kelnos 1y ago
I mean, that seems pretty unfair, no, giving one set of transportation companies an arbitrary advantage over another? This sort of thing is exactly why Uber started in the first place: because taxis had unfair monopolistic advantages for no particular reason, and gave customers a poor experience, because they knew they didn't have to do better to keep their jobs. I have no idea what I'm going to get with those taxis waiting immediately outside the exit door. Even in my home country, at the airport next to my city, I have no idea. I know exactly what I'm getting with an Uber/Lyft, every time. That's valuable to me. I was just in another country a couple months ago, and when trying to leave the airport, I was confused where I'd need to go in order to get an Uber. I foolishly gave up and went for one of those "conveniently-waiting" taxis, where I was quoted a price up-front, in my home currency, that I later (after doing the currency conversion on the Uber price) realized was a ripoff. The driver also aggressively tried to get me to instead rent his "friend's car" rather than take me to the rental car place like I asked. And honestly I consider that lucky: he didn't try to kidnap me or threaten me in any way, but I was tense during the whole ride, wondering if something bad was going to happen. That sort of thing isn't an anomaly; it happens all the time to tourists in many countries.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
  In the US, as well. I won't recount what recently happened to a friend in Milwaukee. It was an unpopular story (because the ripoff was Uber-based, and not the traditional taxi). There's bad actors in every industry. I have found that industries that get "entrenched," tend to breed the most bad actors. If anything turns into a "pseudo-monopoly," expect the grifters to start popping up. They'll figure out how to game the system.

chrischen 1y ago

That's probably due to general inflation...

Dumblydorr 1y ago

So are most things from 20 years ago. Inflation is acting as the majority of those increases I’d wager.

ses1984 1y ago

I strongly prefer to take traditional taxis, but I also comparison shop and Lyft is almost always 20-40% cheaper than a cab ride.

ahepp 1y ago

“Entrenched” because that’s how consumers prefer to spend their money?

jama211 1y ago

Where I live Ubers are WAY cheaper than taxis, even if you go back years and years.

anakaine 1y ago

Here in Australia theres a never ending steam of complaints about taxis managing to bill passengers extraordinary amounts. From taking a route that deliberately includes a highway leg thats expensive to correct (screws tourists), to demanding higher fares, to card skimming, to outright just not displaying the taxi licences so you cant complain and have no idea which driver was being creepy. Uber at least has fixed rates from what was displayed and there are logs of which driver was doing dodgy stuff.

krageon 1y ago

it's way cheaper here, it's more convenient and I won't get ignored due to how my voice sounds on the phone. It's just better