3 ms·

I'm also an American living in France, and I have never even been able to get a taxi in Paris, on the street, at marked taxi stands, or asking directly in a bar

by faster 13y ago

I'm also an American living in France, and I have never even been able to get a taxi in Paris, on the street, at marked taxi stands, or asking directly in a bar where the taxi drivers hang out while they are 'working'. Fortunately I don't live in Paris. It seems that taxi companies are more mafia than union in the US also, but at least they will pick you up. This is because the government won't give them money if they don't work. I appreciate that France has a strong social safety net, but this is one of the downsides of that; it's easy to abuse.

Jacqued 13y ago
This seems quite disingenuous to say the least. I'm a French living in Paris, and have never had any trouble getting a cab, unless I happened to be in one of those neighborhoods that are completely deserted at night. In that case you'd have to call one up. Maybe the cabs you were trying to get already had customers on board. Hint : if a taxi is free, the light on top of it is green. If it's red, there's already a customer on board.
- rmc 13y ago
  Heh, I wonder if it's because it's an American looking for a taxi in France, as opposed to a French person looking for a taxi. When travelling around Europe, I put big Irish stickers on my motorbike. You can get Scottish flag stickers for your car that say "Scotland" in French[1], so the French drivers don't think you're English. [1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotland-Ecosse-Sticker-Number-Saltire/dp/B0055BNOMA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1389619165&sr=8-4&keywords=car+sticker+scotland+ecosse http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotland-Ecosse-Sticker-Number-Salti...
  - faster 13y ago
    I never experienced the kind of hate that some Americans attribute to French people. As far as the French hating the English, have you ever listed to any Roald Dahl childrens' stories? They pretty much ensure that good English kids are raised to hate the French. I used to know an English family who played Roald Dahl CDs for their kids whenever they were in the car. It was frightening. So a little reflection of that isn't too surprising.
- faster 13y ago
  The last time I tried I was with my wife and daughter, trying to get to the airport with luggage. I think the luggage scared them off. You know that the idea for Uber came from the founder's experience trying to get a taxi in Paris, right? That suggests I'm not alone in my experience with Parisian taxis. http://blog.uber.com/2010/12/22/ubers-founding/ http://blog.uber.com/2010/12/22/ubers-founding/
  - rmc 13y ago
    > You know that the idea for Uber came from the founder's experience trying to get a taxi in Paris, right? Actually that link says the complete opposite. It says that while in Paris, the founder were talking about their (bad) experience of getting a taxi in San Francisco. > Garrett Camp and I were hanging out in Paris for a week at Loic and Geraldine LeMeur’s LeWeb conference. Amongst the amazing food, the copious amounts of wine and inevitable nightlife crawls there were all kinds of discussions about what’s next. Garrett had sold StumbleUpon to Ebay and had been doing “hard time” at a big company. I had just completed my tour with Akamai after selling Red Swoosh to them in 2007. > > Jamming on ideas, rapping on what’s next is what entrepreneurs do. Garrett and I would get some good music, good drinks and jam until 5am. Garrett’s big idea was cracking the horrible taxi problem in San Francisco — getting stranded on the streets of San Francisco is familiar territory for any San Franciscan.
    - faster 13y ago
      You're right. I didn't read that all the way through. Shame on me. However, the founding story I heard first was the Paris taxi story, and it's backed up by these old tweets from LeWeb: http://eventifier.co/event/leweb/tweets?page=21&q=uber# http://eventifier.co/event/leweb/tweets?page=21&q=uber# So maybe it was SF taxis after all, or maybe not. If I'm ever face to face with an Uber founder I'll ask.
david927 13y ago
Where do you live in France? (I live near Nice.) Please send me an email, it's in my profile.

by faster 13y ago

Jacqued 13y ago

This seems quite disingenuous to say the least. I'm a French living in Paris, and have never had any trouble getting a cab, unless I happened to be in one of those neighborhoods that are completely deserted at night. In that case you'd have to call one up. Maybe the cabs you were trying to get already had customers on board. Hint : if a taxi is free, the light on top of it is green. If it's red, there's already a customer on board.

rmc 13y ago
Heh, I wonder if it's because it's an American looking for a taxi in France, as opposed to a French person looking for a taxi. When travelling around Europe, I put big Irish stickers on my motorbike. You can get Scottish flag stickers for your car that say "Scotland" in French[1], so the French drivers don't think you're English. [1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotland-Ecosse-Sticker-Number-Saltire/dp/B0055BNOMA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1389619165&sr=8-4&keywords=car+sticker+scotland+ecosse http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotland-Ecosse-Sticker-Number-Salti...
- faster 13y ago
  I never experienced the kind of hate that some Americans attribute to French people. As far as the French hating the English, have you ever listed to any Roald Dahl childrens' stories? They pretty much ensure that good English kids are raised to hate the French. I used to know an English family who played Roald Dahl CDs for their kids whenever they were in the car. It was frightening. So a little reflection of that isn't too surprising.
faster 13y ago
The last time I tried I was with my wife and daughter, trying to get to the airport with luggage. I think the luggage scared them off. You know that the idea for Uber came from the founder's experience trying to get a taxi in Paris, right? That suggests I'm not alone in my experience with Parisian taxis. http://blog.uber.com/2010/12/22/ubers-founding/ http://blog.uber.com/2010/12/22/ubers-founding/
- rmc 13y ago
  > You know that the idea for Uber came from the founder's experience trying to get a taxi in Paris, right? Actually that link says the complete opposite. It says that while in Paris, the founder were talking about their (bad) experience of getting a taxi in San Francisco. > Garrett Camp and I were hanging out in Paris for a week at Loic and Geraldine LeMeur’s LeWeb conference. Amongst the amazing food, the copious amounts of wine and inevitable nightlife crawls there were all kinds of discussions about what’s next. Garrett had sold StumbleUpon to Ebay and had been doing “hard time” at a big company. I had just completed my tour with Akamai after selling Red Swoosh to them in 2007. > > Jamming on ideas, rapping on what’s next is what entrepreneurs do. Garrett and I would get some good music, good drinks and jam until 5am. Garrett’s big idea was cracking the horrible taxi problem in San Francisco — getting stranded on the streets of San Francisco is familiar territory for any San Franciscan.
  - faster 13y ago
    You're right. I didn't read that all the way through. Shame on me. However, the founding story I heard first was the Paris taxi story, and it's backed up by these old tweets from LeWeb: http://eventifier.co/event/leweb/tweets?page=21&q=uber# http://eventifier.co/event/leweb/tweets?page=21&q=uber# So maybe it was SF taxis after all, or maybe not. If I'm ever face to face with an Uber founder I'll ask.

david927 13y ago

Where do you live in France? (I live near Nice.) Please send me an email, it's in my profile.